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II. THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PAftCARATRA-S

theoretical philosophy o f the Pancaratra-s is in
separably bound up with the story o f creation, and can
therefore hardly be treated more conveniently than in
taking the latter throughout as our starting point. In
doing so we shall mainly follow the Ahirbudhnya Samhitd
(particularly chapters 4 to 7), but also have recourse,
wherever this seems desirable, to other sources.1
The

1.

N ig h t s a n d

D a y s o f N a r a y an a

There was, and is still, a belief in India that the

higher a being climbs on the ladder o f existences, the
quicker time passes for him, until, when he reaches
liberation, time is no longer a magnitude for him
1
The writer regrets keenly having had practically no access,
while writing this introduction, to the rich collections of Pancaratra
MSS, stored up in the Adyar and Madras Libraries. Still he feels
confident that the following account will not show any serious gap.
Abbreviations will be easily recognized. The edition quoted
of Pillai Lokacaryas Taiivatraya is the only existing one of the
Sanskrit translation, published as no. 4 of the Chowkhamba
Sanskrit Series; while the edition used of Srinivasadasas Yatindramata-dipika a later work of uncertain date, containing much
modem material unknown to the Pancaratra is No, 50 of the
Anandasrama Series. Taiivatraya (fourteenth century) may almost
be called a collection of Pancaratra Siitra-s, and its commentary,
by Varavaramuni, is specially valuable for its copious extracts
from Visvaksma-samhitS. All references by figures only are to
Ahirbudhnya-samhita.

32

IN TR O D U C TIO N T O TH E P A N C A R A T R A

at all.1 This idea is contained in the doctrine that a

single day o f each Brahman or ruler o f a Cosmic Egg
(,brahmanda)2 comprises no less than 432,000,000 years
o f men. When the day is over, all forms are dissolved
by fire, etc. but not so the tattva-s (elements and organs)
o f which these consist, nor the Cosmic Egg as such.
This dissolution is called a minor or occasional dis
solution ( avantma-pralaya,
naimittika-pralaya) . It
is
followed3 by the Night o f Brahman o f equal length
as his day, in which the Egg hibernates as it were.
This process is repeated 360x100 times, after which
the life o f Brahman ( brahmayus) comes to a close by
the great or total dissolution (maha-pralaya, prdkrtapralayd) in which all the Cosmic Eggs, including the
forces working in them, are completely dissolved or
unified
The Night following it is o f the same
duration as that o f the life o f Brahman, and is followed
1 It may, after all, be found to be the same (not the opposite)
view when P. Prakasa-samhitd (III. 3 ff.) teaches that a timeatom (kala-paramdnuka) is in Jlvaloka (cf. Gila, V II. 5; X V . 7)
only 1/100th part of one on earth, in the world of the gods only
1/10,000th part, for the god Brahman only 1/1,000,000th part, and
for Laksrm only 1/10,000,000th part, while Visnus own time-atom
is infinitely small,
2 Solar system is a somewhat misleading translation, because
a brahmanda, though believed to possess but one sun, comprises the
whole starry host visible to us.
3 Pralaya, as the name says, is the stage in which things are
dissolving, and not the much longer one in which they remain
dissolved. The occasional employment of the name for the two
stages together must be regarded as a misuse, at least from the
Pancaratra point of view, because, if Primary Creation takes place
during the last part of the Night (see below, next paragraph)
and the Day and Night are of equal length, pralaya belongs to
the Day, not to the Night.

T H E P H ILO SO PH Y OF TH E P A N C A R A T R A -S

33

by another Day similar to the former, and so on. These

longest Days and Nights (are called, in the Pancaratra,
Days and Nights) o f the Purusa, the highest Self, the
Lord, etc. For the Purusa s life, says one text, there
exists no measure.1 But though infinite as to time,2
He accepts 5 (angi-karoti) the period called para (that
is, the life-period o f a Brahman) as His day ; and
though exempt from being measured by nights, etc.
He does the work o f the night (ritritvena carati) by
causing Brahman3 and the rest to fall asleep .4 Our
Samhita illustrates the Days and Nights o f the Lord
by an image o f dazzling beauty: during the Day the
universe is like a sky sprinkled all over with cirrus
clouds the Brahmic Eggs, o f which there are kotiarbuda-s o f koti-ogha-s o f koti-s (an unimaginably high
num ber); while during the Night it resembles a sky
without a single cloud.5
2.

H ig h e r

or

P u r e C r e a t io n

(.Evolution, First Stage)

In the eighth and last part o f the Cosmic Night
( paurusi ratri) e the great Sakti o f Visnu, awakened as
1 tasya myur- vidhiyate: P. Prakasa-samhitd, I. 3. 43,
repeated 58.
2 kalato narJa: ibid., I. 3. 55.
3 Who, after his death , belongs to the liberated.
4 ibid., I. 3. 55-7.
5 Ah. S., IX . 16, 14, 38.
e The eighth part of the pralaya is called laydniima : P.
Prakasa-samhitd, I. 1. 51; of. I. 3. 42, 57.

34

INTROD U CTION TO TH E P A N C A R A T R A

it were by His command,1 opens her eyes \ This

(unmesa) opening o f the eyes , says Ahirbudhnya Samhita,
is like the appearance o f a lightning in the sky. And
it means that the Sakti, which was so far indistinguish
able from the windless atmosphere or motionless
ocean 5 o f the Absolute, existing only as it were in a
form o f darkness or emptiness , suddenly, by
some independent resolve (kasmdcrit svatantryat), flashes
up, with an infinitely small part o f herself, in her dual
aspect o f kriya (acting) and bhuti (becoming), that is
Force and Matter.2
Here it will first be necessary to remark that, in
spite o f frequent assurances as to the real identity o f
Laksrm and Visnu, the two are actually regarded as
distinct: even in pralaya they do not completely coalesce
ibut become only as it were a single principle (IV . 78),
the Laksmi eventually emerging from the great Night
being the old Laksmi, not a new one. The mutual
T e l a t i o n o f the two is declared to be one o f i n s e p a r a b l e
connection or inherence3 like that o f an a t t r i b u t e and
its bearer ( dharma, dharmin) , existence and that which
exists ( bhdva, bhavat), I-ness and I (ahamta, aham),
moonshine and moon, sunshine and sun.4 Still, the
dualism is, strictly speaking, a makeshift for preserving
1 ibid., I. 1. 53.
2 X I V . 7-8: tasydh kotyarbudarrdena lakti due, etc.; so V III. 36
and III. 27-8. Cf. Laksmi Tattlra, IV . 4. The bhuli-sakti, as will be
seen, includes what we call soul.
3 avinabhava, samanvaya: Laksmi Tanlra, II. 17.
4 See ch. 4 of Ah. S., and Laksmi Tantra, II. 11 ff.

T H E PH ILO SO PH Y OF T H E P A N C A R A T R A -S

35

the transcendent character o f Visnu: Laksmi alone acts,

but everything she does is the mere expression o f the
Lords wishes.
The kriya-sakti is * the Sudarsana portion o f
Laksm i ;1 for it is identical with Visnus w ill-to-be
-symbolized by the Sudarsana or discus. Being inde
pendent o f space and time2 it is called * undivided
(niskala), in contradistinction to the bhuti-sakti which
is divided in many ways3 and is but a myriadth part
( koti-amsa) o f the Sakti
that is: an infinitely less
powerful manifestation than the kriya-sakti.5 As the
Sudarsana is the instrument o f Visnu, we may say that
Visnu, kriya-sakti and bhuti-sakti are respectively the
causa efficiens, causa instrumentalis, and causa materialis o f
the world. However, the transcendent aspect o f Visnu
(Param Brahma) remains so completely in the back
ground in the Pancaratra that we are practically only
concerned with the one force (Laksmi) which, as
bhuti, appears as the universe, and, as kriya, vitalizes
and governs it.6 Accordingly, the kriya-sakti is called:
1 laksmyah saudarsani kala, III. 45; cf. V . 12.
2 L IX . 57: desakaladika vyaplis tasya \sudarsanasya~], which,
"however, is perhaps not meant to exclude plurality; see below,
section 6 of this part of our introduction.
3 mnabhedavati, X IV . 9; cf. V . 9-11. Kriya is related to bhuti
as the thread to the pearls, the pin to the leaves; see below our
resumi of adhyaya 8.
4 Which elsewhere is said of the two sakti-s together: see
note 2 on p. 34 above.
5 For the mutual relation of the two sakti-s the following
passages should be compared: III. 44-5; V . 7-8; L IX . 55-7.
6 This accounts for the remarkable fact that the Kashmiri
philosopher Ksemaraja has defined the Pancaratra as the system

36

IN TR O D U C TIO N T O TH E P A N C A R A T R A

Visnus resolve consisting o f life (prana-rUpo visndk

samkalpah) ; that which keeps existence a-going ( bhutiparivartaka) ; makes becoming possible (bhutim sambhavayati) ; joins *, at the time o f creation, Primordial
Matter to the faculty o f evolving, Time to the work
o f counting and the soul to the effort for enjoyment ;
preserves all o f these as long as the world lasts; and
withdraws the said faculties at the time o f dissolution _
Just as a fire or a cloud is kept moving by the wind,
even so is the vibhuti part [o f Sakti] impelled1 by the
Sudarsana.
The first phase o f the manifestation o f Laksm! is
called suddhasrsti, pure creation
or gundnmesadasa,,
that is the stage (following the waveless stage) in
which the attributes (guna) o f G od make their appear
ance. These guna-s are aprakrta, not belonging to
Nature for Nature does not exist as yet and have
consequently nothing to do with the three well-known
guna-s (sattva, rajas, tamas) ; that is to say: the old dogma
that God is necessarily free from [the three] guna-s
(nirguna) does not exclude His possessing the six ideal
guna-s which, on the contrary, must be ascribed to
Him, because without them there could be no pure
creation , and, all further evolution depending thereon,
no creation at all. However, the evolution o f the
teaching the identity of God and Nature, that is to say, pantheism
[para prakrtir bhagamn vasudevah, tad-visphulmga-praya evajivdh iti
pancaratrah parasyah prakrteh parinSmabhyupagamad avyakta evdbhinivistdh: Pratyabhijndhrdaya, Srinagar ed. p. 17).
1 O r: made to dance (pranartyate), X I V . 8 and elsewhere..

TH E

PH ILO SO PH Y OF T H E P A N C A R A T R A -S

37

;guna-s does not in any way" affect the being or essence

o f God, it being merely concerned with His becoming

or manifestation , that is His iSakti: Through the
three pairs o f what are called the six guna-s (sadgunya),
to wit: knowledge, lordship, power, etc. does the
Pure Creation [or first stage] o f [His] becoming take
place. 1
Now, the six guna-s are described as follows:
The first guna is jndna (knowledge), defined as
non-inert, self-conscious, eternal, all-penetrating
that is: omniscience. It is both the essence and an
attribute o f Brahman , for which reason the remaining
five guna-s are occasionally called attributes o f jrnna \a
jfrnna is, o f course, also the essence o f Laksmi.3
1
V . 16; cf. V . 15 and V I. 6; hkati and vibhuti are in these
passages, like bhava elGewhere (see above p. 34), used in contradis
tinction to bhavat, and not in the sense of the bhuti-sakti. For the
latter, like the kriya-s'akti, is connected with three guna-s only
(see below), while in the passages concerned the appearance o f
all the six guna-s is referred to.
a Or 1channels of jnina (jhinasya srtayah): Laksmi Tantra,
I I . 35. Yamunacarya, the teacher of Ramanujas teacher, has
tried to justify, philosophically this Pancaratra concept of jnina.
A thing, he says, may be both substance and attribute: asrayad
anyato vrtter, asrayena samanvayat, which he illustrates by means of
the flame (substance) and the light it sheds (attribute).
Is it a mere coincidence that in Zoroastrianism also God has
six attributes? It is true that the two sets have apparently not
much in common, still: might not the monotheism of the Pancaratrin-s, which evidently originated in the north-west of India,
have made some external borrowings from the great religion of
Iran? A similar question seems to arise with regard to the
sun-beams 1and moon-beams 3 into which the vowels are divided
(X V I. 76-7), and the sun-letters and moon-letters of Arabic
grammar, but here we find it hard to believe in any borrowing
except from some common source,
3 Laksmi Tantra, II. 25, etc.

38

INTROD U CTION T O TH E P A N C A R A T R A

The second1 guna is aisvarya (lordship), that:

is activity based on independence unimpeded activ
ity \2 According to Laksmi Tantra (II. 28) this is
identical with what is called icchd (will) in other Tattvasastra-s.
The third guna is sakti, i.e. ability, potency, namely
to become the material cause o f the world (jagatprakrtibhava). It is elsewhere3 defined as aghatitaghatana
(accomplishing the non-accomplished), that is to say,,
being able to produce something the cause o f which
cannot be accounted for by empirical methods.
The fourth guna is bala, or strength, defined as
absence o f fatigue (srama-hani) , or fatiguelessness
in connection with the production o f the world
or
power to sustain all things
sustaining-power
(idharana-samarthya).
The fifth guna is virya, or virility, that is un
affectedness (changelessness, vikara-mraha) in spite o f
being the material cause . This is a condition, says
Laksmi Tantra (II. 31), not found within the world,
where milk quickly loses its nature when curds come
into existence 5.
The sixth and last guna is tejas, or splendour,
might, w'hich is said to mean self-sufficiency (sahakarianapeksa) and power to defeat others (parabhibhavanasamarthya). The latter definition is in Laksmi Tantra
1 The order found on p. 19 of AL ed. is not the usual one2 Independence, in creating the universe, of any other
cause Laksmi Tantra, IV . 9.
3 Varavaramunis comm, on Tattvatraya, p. 94.

TH E PH ILO SO PH Y OF TH E P A N C A R A T R A -S

39

(II. 34), which adds that some philosophers connect

[yojayanti) tejas with aisvarya.
The six guna-s are the material, or instruments, as
it were, o f Pure Creation, (1) in their totality, and (2)
by pairs, in the following way: the guna-s as connected
partly with the bhuti and partly with the kriya-sakti
(V. 7), are regarded as falling into two sets, namely
guna-s 1 to 3, and guna-s 4 to 6, called respectively
visrama-bhUmayafi, stages o f rest, and srama-bhumayah,
stages o f e ffo rt;1 and the corresponding guna-s o f each
set (1 and 4, 2 and 5, 3 and 6) join to form a pair
connected with some special divine manifestation, as
will be explained presently.
In their totality the guna-s make up the body o f
Vasudeva, the highest personal god,2 as well as that o f
his consort Laksmi, in the way that these two are:
constantly seen by the free souls inhabiting the highest
Space.3 It is mainly in this form, to wit as a person
qualified by the six guna-s and distinct from his aktir
that God is called Vasudeva (V. 29).
The apparition o f the pairs denotes the beginning
o f that process o f emanation which has been well
defined as a process which, while bringing the product
into existence, leaves the source o f the product
1 These names are not in Ah. S.; see, however, Laksmi Tantra,
IV . 24, II. 46-7, III. 4. Cf. also what is said below on the different
condition of the three vyuha-s daring and after Pure Creation.
2 sadgunya-vigraham devam (VI. 25). The six guna-s exist also
before creation, but without being active (V. 3).
3 See below.

40

IN TR O D U C TIO N TO THE PA N C A R A .T R A

unchanged.1 This very ancient conception2 is com

monly (though perhaps not correctly) illustrated by the
image o f the light emanating from a source such as the
sun, which accounts for the Sanskrit term for it, namely
abhisa, shining out.3
The Pancaratra teaches a chain, as it were,
o f emanations; each emanation, except the first, originat
ing from an anterior emanation; and thus the favourite
image o f the process has, with the Pancaratrin-s,
become that o f one flame proceeding from another
flame.4. Any production, up to the formation o f the
Egg, is imagined as taking place in this way.
The first three (or, including Vasudeva, four) beings
thus coming into existence are called vyuha-s. This
word is a combination o f the root uk to c shove 5 and
the preposition vi asunder and apparently refers to
the shoving asunder o f the six guna-s into three
pairs.5 This, however, does not mean that each vyuha
has only its two respective guna-s, but, as is repeatedly
emphasized, each vyuha is Visnu Himself with His six
guna-s, o f which, however, two only, in each case, become
manifest. Abiding by the image, we may say that each
new flame has for its fuel another pair o f guna-s.
The vyuha-s are named after the elder brother, the
son, and the grandson, respectively, o f Krsna, namely
1 Chatteiji, Kashmir Shaivism, p. 59.
2 Cf. the Santi purnam adah, etc. at the beginning of IsSvasya
and other Upanisad-s.
3 Not found in the Samhita-s, in so far as known to us.
4 See for instance Padma Tantra I. 2. 21.
5 cdturdtmya-sthitir visrior gunavyatikarodbhava (V. 21).

T H E P H ILO SO PH Y OF TH E P A N C A R A T R A -S

41

Samkarsana (or Balarama, Baladeva), Pradyumna, and

Aniruddha; and the pairs o f gun a s connected with
these are respectively: jnana and bala; aisvarya and
.virya; sakti and tejas.
Each vyuha, after having appeared, remains in
active (avyaprta) for a period o f 100 years o f his own
(.kamya), or 1,600 human years; that is to say: the
evolution o f Pure Creation, up to its end or up to the
point when Aniruddha c together with the two earlier
:[sakti-s, namely those o f Samkarsana and Pradyumna]
engages in creation (V . 40), takes 3x1,6 00 = 4 ,8 0 0
human years.1
The sakti-s o f the vyiiha-s, hinted at in our Samhita,
are mentioned by name in a number o f Jater Samhita-s.
Mahdsanatkumara-samhita, for instance, teaches 2 that
Vasudeva creates from his mind the white goddess Santi,
and together with her, Samkarsana = Siva; then from the
left side o f the latter is born the red goddess Sri, whose son
is Pradyumna = Brahman; the latter, again, creates the
yellow Sarasvatl and together with her, Aniruddha =
Purusottama, whose sakti, becomes the black Rati who
is the threefold mayakosa to be mentioned below.3
1 Which is, of course, also the length of the pralaya of Pure
Creation; see our Samhita, IV . 61.
2 Indraratra, sixth adhydya; cf. Laksmi Tantra, sixth aihyiya.
3 It is important to bear in mind that these four couples are
all of them bahir-andaja born outside the [Mundane] Egg and
therefore not identical with the prdkrtic gods, Siva, etc. who be
long to Gross Creation (described below, section 5). It is im
possible otherwise to understand certain accounts such as the
following one of Laksmi Tantra, fifth adhydya: Brahman and

42

IN TROD U CTION TO TH E

PAN CARATRA

Each vyiiha has two activities, a creative and a

moral one, that is, One connected with the origin o f
beings and another one connected with their ethical
progress; and each o f these activities o f a vyiiha is said
to be mediated by one o f his two guna-s.1 For this
reason, that is to say because the creative activities
necessarily precede the moral ones, it is assumed 2 that
during the period o f Pure Creation those guna-s only are
actually manifest, though as mere stages o f rest ( visrama
bhumayah), which become active at the beginning o f
non-Pure Creation, while the stages o f effort ( sramabhumayah) can come forth only after all the tattva-s are
created.
The creative activities o f the vyiiha-s come into
play the one after the other, marking out in the follow
ing way three successive stages in the creation o f the
non-pure universe.
With Samkarsana non-Pure Creation becomes dimly
manifest in an embryonic condition, as a chaotic
mass without internal distinctions. This is expressed
in the Samhita-s by the grotesque but often repeated
Sarasvatl create an egg (15), Visnu and Laksmi lie down in it
(20),"from Visn.us navel there springs the sacrificial lotus (21),.
and from the lotus are born Brahman and Sarasvatl (27-8).
1 Visvaksena-samhila, in Tallvatraya, pp. 125-7; Laksmi Tantra,
IV . 8-20. The dogma of guna-s 1 to 3 being connected with
creation only, and guna-s 4 to 6 with moral progress only, is not
quite adhered to in several Samhita-s, it being somewhat hard to
believe that Samkarsana should create by means of knowledge but
teach philosophy by means of strength; that Pradyumna should,
teach ethics by means of virility rather than ability, etc.
2 Laksmi Tantra, IV. 8 if., IV. 24, and II. 47.

TH E PH ILO SO PH Y OF TH E P A N C A R A T R A -S

43

statement that Samkarsana carries the whole universe

like a tilakalaka (dark spot under the skin)
which
apparently signifies that the world he carries is still so to
speak under the surface, existing only in a germinal
condition,1 as a minute part, as it were, o f his body.
The guna with which Samkarsana performs his cosmic
function, is sometimes stated to be jnana, but as a rule
bala. His name Baladeva (the strong god) is also
connected with this aspect o f his, and so he is often
described by means o f such compounds as asesa-bhuvanaadhara (support o f the whole w orld).
Through Pradyumna the duality o f Purusa and
Prakrti makes its first appearance:2 he is said to per
form by means o f his guna, aisvarya, both the manavasarga and the vaidya-sarga,3 that is the creation o f the
group soul and o f primordial Matter plus subtle
Tim e.4
Aniruddha, finally, gives opportunity for growth
to body and soul5 (L II. 51-2) by taking over the crea
tion o f Pradyumna and by evolving out o f it manifest
matter (vyakta) with gross Time, and , on the other hand,
the so-called mixed Creation ( misra-srsti) 5 o f souls; that
is to say: he becomes, through his guna, sakti, ruler o f
the Cosmic Eggs and their contents.
1 As masrno vikdrafi, Laksmi Tantra, V I. 7.
2 Laksmi Tantra, V I. 10: bhoklr-bhogya-samastis tu nilina talratisfhati.
3 Ah. S., LV. 17, L IX . 31.
4 V I. 9 ff, and 12. For particulars see the next section o f
this Introduction.
5 Visvaksena-samhitd, loc. cit., p. 129.

44

IN TR O D U C TIO N T O TH E P A N C A R A T R A

The cosmic activities o f the vyuha-s are also 1 not,

however, as it seems, in the oldest Samhita-s stated to
be the creation, preservation, and destruction o f the
universe or o f the Cosmic Egg. These statements are of
a somewhat contradictory nature. L akm i Tantra, for
instance, teaches (IV . 11, 19, 20) that the cosmic function
of Aniruddha is creating, that o f Pradyumna preserving,
and that o f Samkarsana destroying; while, according to
Visvaksena-samhitd (loc. cit., pp. 125 if.), Samkarsana
by means o f his Guna bala takes away all this Prad
yumna by means o f his Guna aisvarya creates that
[totality o f] movable and immovable [beings]
and
Aniruddha by means o f his [Gun a] sakti supports and
protects this whole world, the infinite E g g .2
The ethical activities o f the three vyuha-s are
declared to b e 3 the teaching 1. by Samkarsana,
o f the sastra or theory, namely o f monotheism (aikantika-marga); 2. by Pradyumna, o f its translation into
practice (tat-kriya) ; and 3. by Aniruddha, of the gain
resulting from such practice (kriya-phala), to wit Libera
t io n ;1 the instruments applied being respectively the
guna-s, jnana or bala,5 virya, and tejas. According to
1 Cf. the identification of Samkarsana and Siva, etc. mentioned
above on p. 41.
2 In Ah, S., also, Aniruddha is occasionally called protector
overseer, and the like (see, for instance, L III. 53, LV. 42),
but elsewhere (LV. 21, etc.) it ascribes to him all the three activities.
3 See especially V. 21-4; Visvaksena-samhitd, loc. cit., pp.
125-7; Laksmi Tantra, IV . 15-20.
4 bhuvana-abhaya-da vaikuntha, LV. 43, 53.
5 The former according to V . 21-2 [Ah. S.) and Visvaksenasamhitd, loc. cit., p. 125; the latter according to Laksmi Tantra,
IV . 15.

TH E PH IL O SO P H Y OF

TH E

P A N C A R A T R A -S

45

Visvaksena-samhita ( Tattvatraya, p. 125), the teaching o f

Samkarsana is not confined to the Pancaratra, but

includes the Veda (that is, o f course, its esoteric por
tions). The same source says (loc. cit., pp. 126, 127)
that Pradyumna introduces all religious rites [to be
performed by a Pancaratrin] , while Aniruddha
f makes known the whole truth about the [ultimate goal
o f ] the soul .
The vyuha-s, however, have, or at least had origin
ally, still another aspect about which something must
be said here. In the Narayaniya section o f the Santi
Parvan o f the Mahabharata, in Samkara s commentary on
Vedanta-sutra, II. 2. 42 ff. and elsewhere, it is stated
that Samkarsana represents the individual soul- (jivatman), Pradyumna the mams, and Aniruddha the
ahamkara. This doctrine seems to be gradually dis
appearing from the Samhita literature, owing, we
believe, to the difficulty o f connecting the- ahamkara
with such an absolutely pure being as a vyuha. We
have come across only a single passage which openly
endeavours to explain the teaching in its entirely,
namely Laksmi Tantra, V I. 9-14. The idea here ex
pressed is that Samkarsana, etc. are, as it were, the
soul (jiva ), the mind ( buddhi, mams), and the organ
o f self-assertion o f the playing5 (that is, creating)
Vasudeva. But the original - meaning o f the doctrine
must have been rather that the vyuha-s are something
like tutelar deities o f the said principles. This is, in
deed, the teaching o f Visvaksena-samhita, which declares
(loc. cit., pp. 125 ff.) about Samkarsana: He is acting

46

IN TR O D U C TIO N TO T H E P A N C A R A T R A

as the superintendent o f all the souls ,1 and about

Pradyumna: He is the superintendent o f the mind
(manas) ; he is declared to be o f the nature o f the mind
(manomaya). About Aniruddha no similar statement'is
made; 2 still his being declared to be the creator o f the
misra-varga, that is, o f the souls dominated by rajas and
tamas, shews that he was actually looked at, by the
author o f that Samhita, as the adhisthatr (superintendent)
o f the ahamkara. In the same Samhita the superinten
dence o f Samkarsana is described as follows: Then
Samkarsana, the divine Lord, wishing to create the
world, made himself superintendent o f the principle o f
Life and severed it from Nature.3 And, after having
done so,4 the God obtained the state o f s Pradyumna .
In Ahirbudhnya Samhita, as we have seen, the duality o f
soul and Nature appears first with Pradyumna. It is he,
not Samkarsana, who is called there the Lord o f the
souls5 (L III. 48), while Aniruddha is indeed called
superintendent, not however o f the Ahamkara but o f
each o f the three guna-s (V I. 53 ff.) or o f the whole mani
fested world (see above p. 44, note 2). But though
there is nothing in our Samhita, in so far as the account o f
creation is concerned, that would make the vyuha-s
1 so :'yam samasta-jivmam adhisthatrtaya sthitah.
2 For which reason it is also missing in Tattvatraya in the
aphorism on the activities of Aniruddha (p. 127).
3jiva-tattvam adhisfimya prakrtes tu vivicya tat, which the com
mentary explains thus: He made himself superintendent of the
principle of Life, which was absorbed in Nature, and on the strength
of that superintendence severed it from Nature so as to render
the appearance of names and forms possible.
4 viveka=vivecanqm.

T H E PH ILO SO PH Y OF T H E P A N C A R A T R A -S

47

appear as tutelar deities in the sense mentioned;

there are indeed a few passages referring to individual
life which could be so interpreted. For example,
we read (LIII. 40 ff.) o f Pradyumna that he is a source
of joy by his purifying influence on vidya ( = buddki) ,
-and again that he is the interna] ruler ( antar-niyamaka)
of the organ o f knowledge (jnanendriya) ; o f Samkar
sana (L IX . 23, 25 if.) that he causes the soul to flee
from the world and reach liberation by making it obtain
-correct knowledge; and o f Aniruddha (L IX . 34): He
bestows upon men the fruits [o f their actions]
which fruits ( = results) here undoubtedly include, or
even exclusively denote, those earned by selfish actions
(good and bad).
An attempt at combining the several activities o f
the vyiiha-s has been made by the author o f Tattvatraya
(pp. 125 if.) in the following aphorisms (which contain,
indeed, all that the book has to say on the vyiiha-s) :
O f them [the vyiiha-s] Samkarsana, connected
with [the attributes called] jnana and bala, having
become the superintendent o f the principle [called]
soul (jiva) , severs it from Prakrti, and then, having
assumed the state o f Pradyumna, effects the appearing
[and progress] o f the Sastra and [finally] the withdrawal
o f the world.
Pradyumna, connected with aisvarya and virya,
having become the superintendent o f the principle
[called] mind (manas), carries out the teaching o f religion
and the creation o f the Pure Group consisting o f the
four Manu-s, etc.

48

IN TR O D U C TIO N TO TH E P A N C A R A T R A

Aniruddha, connected with sakti and tejas, performs

the protection [of this world], the conferring o f the

knowledge o f truth, the creation o f time and the mixed
creation.
From each vyiiha descend1 three sub-vyiiha-s
{vyUhdntara, miirtyantara) , namely 1. from Vasiideva:
Kesava, Narayana and M adhava; 2. from Samkarsana:
Govinda, Visnu and Madhusudana; 3. from Prad
yumna: Trivikrama, Vamana and Sridhara; and 4. from
Aniruddha: Hrslkesa, Padmanabha and DamodaraThese twelve are the Lords o f the months , 2 that isthe tutelar deities ( adhidevata-s) o f the twelve months
and the twelve suns, 3 and as such play an important
part in diagrams (yantra-s), etc.4 They are usuallyrepresented, for the purpose o f meditation: Kesava as
shining like gold and bearing four discuses, Narayana
as dark (like a blue lotus) and bearing four conches,
Madhava as shining like a gem (sapphire) and bearing
four clubs, etc.;5 . and they are said to protect the
devotee s body if represented on the same (forehead,
etc.) by certain painted vertical lines ( urdhvapundra).
Another set o f twelve vidyesvara-s6 descending
from the vyiiha-s is mentioned in a number o f texts 7
1 1watirnah, says Tat. Dip., p. 85.
2 masadhipah, Mahasanatkumdra S., III. 6. 33.
3 That is, the sun in the twelve months of the year; cf. the
rtucakra, V III. 47b ff. of Ah. S., further Tat. Dip., p. 85.
4 V . 49, V ir i. 49, X X V L 33 ff.
5 Tat. Dip., loc. cit., to be compared with the fuller (and
slightly different) description in adhydya X X V I of our Samhita.
6 This term in Mahasanatkumdra S., III. 6. 34.
7 See for example Vikagendra S., II. 18, and the passage men
tioned in the preceding note.

T H E PH ILO SO PH Y OF T H E P A N C A R A T R A -S

49

and derived in Padma Tantra I. 2. 26 ff. in the following

way: from the vyUha Vasudeva springs another Vasudeva,
from the latter Purusottama, and from him Janardana;
similarly from Samkarsana another Samkarsana, Adhoksaja and Upendra; from Pradyumna, another Prad- >
yumna, Nrsimha and Hari; and from Aniruddha
another Aniruddha, Acyuta and Krsna. These twelve
are enumerated after the twelve sub-^SAa-J and called,
together with the latter, the twenty-four forms ( caturvimsatimurtayah).
T o Pure Creation further belong the so-called
vibhava-s (manifestations) or avatara-s (descents), that
is incarnations o f God or His vyuha-s or sub-vyiiha-s
or angels (see below) among this or that class o f terres
trial beings.1 The principal vibhava-s are, according
to Ahirbudhnya Samhita (V. 50 ff.; cf. L V I. 2 f f ) , the
following thirty-nine:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Padmanabha.
Dhruva.
Ananta.
Saktyatman,
Madhusudana.
Vidyadhideva.
Kapila.
VisvarQpa.
Vihaiigama.
Krodatman.

11. Badabavaktra.
12. Dharma.
13. VagKvara.

14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.

Ekarnavaiayin.
Kamathe^vara.
Varaha.
Narasimha.
Plyusaharana.
Sripati.
Kantatman.
Rahujit.
Kalanemighna.
Parijatahara.

24. Lokanatha.
25. Santatman.
26. Dattatreya.

27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.

Nyagrodhasayin.
Ekasnigatanu.
Vamanadeha.
Trivikrama.
Nara.
Narayana.
Hari.
Krsna.
Parasurama.
Rama
Dhanur
dhara.
37. Vedavid.
38. Kalkin.
39. Patalaiayana.

1 vibhavo nama tat-tat-sajatiya-riipemmrbhSvah: Tat. D ip., p. 86.

50

IN TR O D U C TIO N TO TH E P A N C A R A T R A

This list has been reproduced almost exactly from

the ninth pariccheda o f Sattvata-samhita (pp. 79-80); and
to that work we are, indeed, referred by our Samhita
(V . 57 ff.) for a comprehensive description o f the origin,
etc. o f those vibhava-s. However, the description,
though it is actually found there, covering over 160
verses o f the twelfth pariccheda (pp. 97-109), does not,
apart from some hints, deal with the origin o f the
vibhava-s, but only with their form and activity as objects
o f meditation. Still less can be gathered from the
twenty-third pariccheda o f the same Samhita and the
fifty-sixth Adhyaya o f the Ahirbudhnya, where the thirtynine vibhava-s are once more reviewed in connection
with certain mantra-s. W e must, then, try to identify
the names without any direct help, which, however,
as will be seen, is not very difficult.
W e shall naturally begin by picking out the ten
avatara-s enumerated in the Narayaniya section o f the
Santi Parvan, which, for obvious reasons, must be ex
pected to be included in our list. They are nos. 9
( =H am sa), 15( = Kiirma), 28 ( =M atsya), 16, 17,29, 35,
36, 37 and 38.
Four o f the others show Visnu under different
aspects at the beginning o f creation and after pralaya
respectively, namely: 14, as sleeping, with Laksmi, on
the primeval waters;1 1, as growing from His navel the
lotus from which Brahman is to spring; 27, as the
boy floating on the Nyagrodha leaf, in whose mouth
1 Salivata S., X I I . 66: nifannam bhogisayyayam ; Laksmi Tantra,
V . 21: padmaya saha vidyaya apsu susaymam cakre.

T H E PH ILO SO PH Y OF T H E P A N C A R A T R A -S

51

Markandeya discovered the dissolved universe;1 and 39,

as the Lord o f the cataclysmic fire , clad in a flaming
robe, waited upon by Laksmi, Ginta, Nidra and Pusti.2
Again, there are four other avatara s who rather
seem to belong together and therefore, says Sattvatasamkita (X II. 139), may be meditated upon either
collectively or singly, namely nos. 31 to 34 (including
one already mentioned) who are Visnu appearing as
the four sons o f Dharma and Ahimsa.3 They are
described, in Sdttvata Samhita (X II. 139-48), as four
ascetics clad in deerskin, etc. the first reciting mantra-s,
the second absorbed in meditation, the third teaching
meritorious works, and the fourth performing austerities.
Then there are four (including two already men
tioned), to wit nos. 1, 5, 29 and 30, who are identical in
name, and possibly in some other respect, with four o f
the twelve sub-vyukas. T w o o f these, namely Vamana
and Trivikrama, are, according to our sources, merely
the two opposite aspects o f the well-known Vamana
avatara, that is Visnu as the very small one ( hrtstha) and
the all-pervading one (sarva-vyapm, trailokya-piiraka) ; 4
-while no. 5 refers, o f course, to Visnus victory over the
demon Madhu.5
1 Referring to the story related in Vana Parvan, 188 if.
2 Sattpata S., X II . 165 ff.
3 Narayanlva, opening chapter; see Bhandarkar, Vaimamsm,
etc. (EIAR, vol. I l l , part 6), pp. 32-3. It is clear that this
Krsna is not exactly identical with the well-known one.
4 Of. Taitt. Aran,, X . 10. 1: anor aniyan mahato mahiyan, etc.
5 Or rather the demons Madhu and Kaitabha; see ch. 41
o f Ah. S.

52

IN TR O D U C TIO N TO T H E P A N C A R A T R A

O f the rest some are mentioned as avatara-s in the

Puran a literature, while others are apparently not.
known in it as such, or altogether unknown.
No. 3, Ananta, is not the serpent Sesa but Balarama^
the brother o f Krsna.1 In Padma Tantra (I. 2. 32) he
is inserted after Parasurama as the eighth o f the -ten
avatara-s instead o f the first (Hamsa) who is omitted.
No. 7, Kapila, is, according to our Samhita (L V I. 32),
the Samkhya philosopher, and he is evidently the same
as Kapila, the teacher o f the Naga kings referred to
elsewhere.2 No. 10, Krodatman, can be none else,
to judge from Sattvata-samhitd, 'X I I . 45 ff., than jVisnu.
as the Yajna-varaha or Yajfia-sukara a particular
aspect o f the Boar incarnation. The description, in
L V I. 35-6,3 o f no. 24, Lokanatha, points to Manu
Vaivasvata who was saved from the deluge by Brahman
as a fish and made the [secondary] creator o f all living
beings. No. 20, Kantatman, is described in Sattvatasamhita (X II. 85 ff.) as a beautiful youth with 6eyes
unsteady by lo v e , etc. that is to say as Pradyumna,.
or Kama reborn (after his destruction by Siva) as the
son o f Krsna. But in Ahirbudhnya Samhita (L V I. 3),
he has the epithet amrta-dhdraka carrying nectar
which seems rather to point to Dhanvantari, the
physician o f the gods, or to Dadhibhakta.4 No. 26,
Dattatreya, is the well-known sage, son o f Atri and
1
Who is sometimes regarded as an incarnation of Sesa rather
than of Visnu himself.
s PSdma Tantra, I. 1. 23 if.; Visnutilaka, II. 170 ff., etc.
3 Note especially vairaja and satya-rupa.
4 See below p. 53, note 3 on no. 18.

T H E P H ILO SO PH Y OF T H E P A N C A R A T R A -S

53

Anasiiya. No. 37, Vedavid, is, according to Sattvatasamhitd, (X II . 154 ff.), the famous Veda-Vyasa. All o f
these are among the twenty-two avatara s enumerated
in the Bhagavata-purana (I. 3), supposing that Krodatman
may be identified with Yajna, Kantatman with Dhanvantari, and Lokanatha with Purusa (the Male or
Progenitor). The following are also Puranic: Dhruva
(no. 2), the prince and polar star, celebrated, in Sattvatasamhitd I X . 105, as the bearer o f the adhara-iakti;1
Vagisvara (no. 13), who is Hayasirsa or Hayagriva;
and kantatman (no. 25), if he is, as may be supposed,
either Sanatkumara (Sanaka) or Narada as the ex
pounder o f the Sattvata system.2
Saktyatman (no. 4) is Visnu as iccha-rupa-dhara
{.Sattvata-samhitd, X I I . 9), that is, assuming the particular
form required for pleasing some devotee. Vidyadhideva, the Lord o f Viraj
is the four-faced Brahman.
N o. 8 is Visnu in the form in which he appears to
Arjuna in the famous Visvarupa Adhyaya (X I) o f the
Bhagavad-gita. No. 11 is Aurva. No. 12 is Visnu as
dhaima personified. No. 18, also called Amrtaharana,
is Visnu as the restorer o f immortality to the gods.3
1 Cf. Ah. S., V III. 34 if,, where, however, the term has a
much wider sense.
2 The only description of Santatman is in Salivata S., X I I . 110:
Having a mind full of compassion, carrying the conch and lotus in
his hands, showing the threefold path of knowledge, renunciation
and virtuous deeds.
3 Cf. the story of the churning of the ocean. The epithet
would also fit Dadhibhakta to whom Indra is said to owe the
amrta, and who is mentioned among the chief avatara-s in Visvaksena
S., loc. cit., p. 135 (dad.hibhak.lai ca deveh darvi-hasto mrtapradajh).
Amrtaharana is, thirdly, an epithet ofGaruda.

54

IN TR O D U C TIO N T O T H E P A N C A R A T R A

No. 19.is Visjnu as the husband o f Laksmi (who threw

herself into his arms when she emerged from the ocean) Nos. 21 and 22 are Visnu conquering respectively
Rahu and Kalanemi. No. 23, finally, is Krsna wresting
from Indra the celestial tree.
The enumeration o f exactly thirty-nine avatara-sr
and the insistence upon this number also in the
mantroddhara in both the Samhita-s concerned, seems to
prove that the number is meant to be exhaustive. This
impression is not removed by Varavaramunis statement,,
in his commentary on Tattvatraya (p. 135), that the
real number is only thirty-six, because Kapila,
Dattatreya and Parasurama are only secondary ava
tara-s.x For there are more c secondary avatara-s
among the thirty-nine as well as outside their number.2:
The second point to be emphasized in connection
with this list is that it occurs in one o f the very oldest
Samhita-s (Sattvata) and therefore may be older than
the smaller lists found in later Samhita-s and older even
than the Mahahharata list mentioned above. Even the
smaller Narayaniya list (o f only six names),3 appears
from this viewpoint not to be the oldest list but merely
a selection; for it is inconceivable that, for instance,
the ancient and famous story o f the Fish should have
1 See below.
2 Nor does the further division of the secondary or dvcia.
avatara-s according to svarupdveia and saktyivda (loc. cit., p. 130)
help to solve the riddle; for Vyasa belongs necessarily to the same
class as Kapila, etc.
*
Namely nos. 16, 17, 29, 36, 34 and 35 of our list; see Bhandarkar, loc. cit., p. 41.

T H E PH IL O SO P H Y O F T H E P A N C A R A T R A -S

55

been overlooked by those who made the Boar an incar

nation o f Visnu.
The distinction referred to in our Samhita1 between
primary {mukhya) and secondary (gauna, avesa) avatara s
is explained at length in Visvaksenasamhita (lac. cit.,
pp. 130-2). There the primary avataras only are
declared to be like a flame springing from a flame,
that is to say Visnu himself with a transcendent
( aprakrta) body, while a secondary avatara is a soul
in bondage with a natural body which, however,
is possessed (avista) or pervaded, for some particular
mission or function, by the power (tokti) o f Visnu. The
primary avataras only should be worshipped by those
seeking liberation, while for mundane purposes (wealth,
power, etc.) the secondary avataras may be resorted to.
The said Samhita enumerates as instances o f secon
dary avataras'. Brahman, Siva, Buddha,2 Vyasa, Arjuna,
Parasurama, the Vasu called Pavaka, and Kubera, the
god o f riches.
As for the origin o f the avataras, Visvaksenasamhita declares that all o f them spring from Aniruddha,
either directly or indirectly, examples o f the latter class
being Mahesvara (Siva) who descends from Aniruddha
through Brahman, and Hayasiras who comes from the
Fish, who himself springs from the direct avatara Krsna.
According to Laksmi Tantra also (II. 55) all the vibhavas
descend from Aniruddha. Padma Tantra, on the other
1 V III. 51: vibhavantara-samjrlam tad yac chaktyaveh-sambhavam.
2 Possessed of the quality of making heretics, therefore called
mohana the bewilderer !

56

IN TR O D U C TIO N TO T H E P A N C A R A T R A

hand, says (I. 2. 31 if.) that o f the ten avatara-s the

Fish, the Tortoise and the Boar1 have sprung from Vasudeva; the Man-lion, Dwarf, Srirama and Parasurama
from Samkarsana; Balarama from Pradyumna; and
Krsna and Kalki from Aniruddha; and it indicates that
the other avatara-s2 are to be distributed in a similar

'Way.
The avatara-s are not confined to human and animal
forms: the vegetable kingdom is sometimes chosen, as in
the case o f the crooked mango-tree in the Dandaka
forest mentioned by Visvaksena-samhitd (loc. cit., p. 130)
as an instance o f this class o f incarnations.
Even among inanimate objects an image o f Krsna,
the Man-lion, Garuda, etc. becomes an avatara o f
Visnu (endowed with a certain miraculous power felt
by the worshipper) as soon as it is duly consecrated
according to the Pancaratra rites, it being supposed that
Visnu, owing to his omnipotence, is capable o f descend
ing into such images with a portion o f his sakti, that
is, with a subtle ( d ivin e non-natural ) body.3
This is the area, avatara or incarnation for the purposes
1 That is, the three manifestations of Prajapati mentioned in
the Satapatharbr&hmana (Dowson, Hindu Classical Dictionary, sub
voce avatara).
2 Purusa, Satya, Acyuta, Buddha, Daiarha, Sauri, Anneia,
Hayagriva, Nj-simha, Sankhodara, Vi$vaksena( ?), Vrsakapi,

Adivaraha.
3 The presence of God as a vibhava in generated bodies such
as those of Rama and Krsna is also explained in this way; see
Tat. Dip., p. 53 where this is the answer to the question: How
can there be a junction between the natural and the non-natural?
(prdkrta-aprdkrta-samsargah katham?).

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PAN CARA t RA-S

57

o f ordinary worship. It is exhaustively treated in

Visvaksena-samhita (loc. cit., pp. 122, 143).
There is, finally, the antaryami avatdra, which is
Aniruddha as the * Inner Ruler 5 o f all souls (niyanta
sarva-dehimm) 1 a very old conception based on a
famous Upanisad passage. The antaryemin is the mys
terious power which appears as instinct and the like, and
which as the * smokeless flame seated in the * lotus
o f the heart5 plays an important part in Yoga practice.2
The avatara-s, including those which belong to the
past in so far as their visibility on earth is concerned,
are held to be eternal aspects o f Visnu which are always
helpful if properly meditated upon. It is, indeed, for
meditation more than for anything else that Visnu is
believed to have manifested himself under different
forms.
T o Pure Creation, thirdly, belongs the paramavyoman, highest heaven ,3 or Vaikuntha,4 with all
the beings and objects contained in it. This Highest
1 Visvaksena S., loc. cit,, p. 122.
2 This conception of God residing in the soul but not identical
"with it will be found to be responsible for the apparent Advaitism
of a good many passages in the Pancaratra literature.
3 See V I. 21 f f of Ah. S. This is the second highest in the
list of tattvas, Laksmi Tantra, V I. 43, enumerating: the Lord,
Tiighest heaven, the purusa, sakti, niyati, etc. For vyoman, lit.
space, sphere, the synonyms Skdia, nabhas, etc. are also used;
cf. loc. cit., V II. 9.
4 This name is ambiguous in that it also denotes, and more
often so, the (lower) heaven of Visnu in satya-loka which is a
reflection, en miniature, of the highest heaven and occasionally
-even that whole sphere. Visnu-loka is an equally ambiguous
term. Some Samhita-s connect each vyUha with a particular
leaven; see, for instance, Vihagendra-samhita, II. 20.

58

IN T R O D U C T IO N T O T H E P A N C A R A T R A

Heaven has nothing to do with any o f the temporal

heavens forming the upper spheres o f the Cosmic Egg.
This is indicated by its being called tripdd-vibhiiti,
manifestation o f the three-fourths [o f God] in contra
distinction to the one-fourth with which Aniruddha
creates the Cosmic Egg. The highest heaven, in that:
it is not reached, at liberation, until after the shell
or wall o f the Cosmic . Egg has been pierced
is defined as infinite above, limited b e lo w .1
The highest heaven with its inhabitants2 comes
into existence together with the vyuha-s; and when, at
the time o f the great dissolution, the Cosmic Eggs dis
appear and Laksmi becomes indistinguishable from the
Lord,3 it is, o f course, also withdrawn.4
But there is also another, evidently later, view,
according to which the highest heaven (including, o f
course, the divine couple) is not affected by the great
dissolution. With this second view is probably connect
ed the distinction between the highest heaven and the
world as nitya-vibhiiti5 and -vibhuti, eternal
1 sd vibhiitir Urdhva-pradese nantd, adhak-pradese paricchinna: Tat.
Dip., p. 53. The journey of the liberated soul to the boundary
of the Cosmic Egg and further on, is described in great detail
in chs. 5 to 7 of Tripadvibhutimahdndrayana-upanisad.
2 Among whom also the liberated souls are represented from
the beginning, namely by those innumerable ones liberated in
former kalpa-s: P. PrakaL S., V I. 7.
3 See above, beginning of section 2, pp. 34 ff.
4 P. Prakasa S., I. 14: vaikunthddivihdram hitvd.
6 Or bhoga-vibhUti: Tattvatraya, p. 76.

T H E PH IL O SO P H Y OF T H E P A N C A R A T R A -S

59'

manifestation 5 and play-manifestation (^manifesta

tion o f the play o f God, that is, the world) -1
In the highest heaven there is, just as on earth, a.
distinction between matter and souls. For the souls
without matter would have no objects o f enjoyment.
The heavenly matter, however, or pure matter (suddkasattva) as it is called, is not a mixture o f the three
guna-s, nor the sattva guna without an admixture o f
the other guna-s, though it is sometimes understood in
the latter sense. The highest heaven coming into
existence together with the vyuha-s (V I. 2 Iff.), it is clear
that the sattva guna, which originates much later,
namely only from kala (T im e),2 can have nothing to do
with it. Pure matter, then, is a sort o f spiritual matter
which exists nowhere except in Pure Creation. It is a
necessary hypothesis for explaining: 1. the non-natural
(ia-prakrta) bodies o f God, the angels, and liberated
souls; and 2. the presence, in the City o f Vaikuntha
o f inanimate objects, to wit, 4 instruments o f enjoyment
such as sandal, flowers, jewels, etc.3,3 and places o f
enjoyment such as parks, lotus-tanks, pavilions, etc.4
Pure matter is spiritual, that is o f the nature o f
Knowledge and Bliss (V I. 22, 24), in so far as it is
nowhere an obstacle to the mind, but consists, on the
contrary, o f nothing but wishes materialized. It is,
1 Cf. p. 61, our explanation of the terms nityodita and iantodita.
2 See below section 3 of this part of our Introduction.
3 One edition of Yat. Dip. includes women (uadhu) !
4 Cf. for (1) the jMnanandamaya dehah, and for (2) the Snandamaya bhogali and anandalaksana lokafr mentioned in V I. 24 and 23*
respectively of Ah. S.

IN TR O D U C TIO N T O

THE

PANCARATRA

as it were, the solidified splendour (stjana prabha) o f

Pure Creation (VT. 21-2).
The most prominent figure in highest heaven is
God himself in his para or highest form, which is the
first o f his five prakara-s or modes o f existence, the other
four being the vyuha-s and the three kinds o f avatara-s
treated o f above.1 He assumes this form as a root o f
his innumerable avatara-s 2 and especially for the
enjoyment o f the angels and the liberated.3
The divine figure is adorned with nine chief orna
ments and weapons, which symbolically represent the
principles o f the universe,4 namely the Kaustubha (a
jewel worn on the breast) = th e souls, the Srivatsa
(a curl o f hair on the breast) = Prakrti, a club = mahat, a
1 mama prakdrdh pariceti prdhur vedantapdragah: Visvaksena S., loc.
cit,, p. 122. Cf. above pp. 27 if. our 'explanation of the name
Pancaratra.
2 Anantavatara-kanda, Tattvatraya, pp. 118-19. In
Vihajrendra S., II. 15 the sdksat-Jakti is called murtinam bijam avyayam.
3 The para form of God is four-armed and of dark blue com
plexion (Visvaksena S., loc. cit., p, 136; Padma Tantra, I. 2. 13 and
15). It has sprung, according to Padma Tantra (I, second Adhyaya;
cf. Visnutilaka, II. 5 if.), from a still higher, the very first, form of
God (riipam adyam sandtanam; Visnutilaka, II. 10: vdsudevdhvayam
mahah; cf. Ah. S., X L III. 7: mahal}paramabhdsvaram) which is twohanded (cf. Vihagendra S., II. 16), of the colour of a pure crystal,
and clad in a yellow robejust as the sudarsana purusa (mantratanur bhagavan) residing in Vaikuntha who appears to Ahirbudhnya X L IV . 22 ff. (cf. X L III. 9 if.). This is the best of purusa-s
and the highest light5 seen by Brahman in meditation (Padma
Tantra, I. 3. 1 6 if.) and ever to be remembered by Yogin-s
as seated in the lotus of the heart that is, evidently, the antarjiamin placed here above the^ara. This form, again, has originated
from that which has all forms and no form , Brahman without
.beginning, middle or end
4 See next section of this Introduction.

T H E P H IL O S O P H Y O F T H E P A N C A R A T R A -S

61

conch= the sattvic ahamkdra, a bow = the tamasic ahamkaray

a sword= knowledge, its sheath = ignorance, the discus =
the mind, the arrowsthe senses, a garland= the
elements.1 These weapons and ornaments are not
merely regarded as symbols but also as actually con
nected (as presiding deities or the like) with the tattva-s
they represent. In this sense we read, for instance,
in Vifruitilaka (II. 29-31) that during the universal
night the soul in the form o f the Kaustubha 5 rests in
the splendour o f Brahman, from which it is again sent
out into the world {prapancita) at the beginning o f the
new cosmic day in order to return once more and for
ever when it is liberated.
God as pam is sometimes identified with, and.
sometimes distinguished from, the vyiiha Vasudeva.
When the two are distinguished, whether as evermanifest ( nityodita) and periodically manifest [mntodita) 2
or otherwise,3 the vyiiha Vasudeva is said to have sprung.
1
The great authority on this subject is for all later writers
the Astrabhiisana Adhyaya of Visnu-purdna (I. 22).
8 nityoditdt sambabhuva tathd sintodito harifi, Visvaksena S., loc.
cit., p. 133; cf. p. 136. Santa-udita, 1set and risen
is a Tatpurusa.
compound of the Vi&sanobhayapada class; cf. snatdnulipta, etc..
The comm., loc. cit., p. 133, gives no etymological explanation,,
but merely paraphrases the two terms by means of nitya-muktaanubhdvya and samkarsanavyuha-kdranabhUta respectively. Cf. above:
p. 58 the expressions nitya-vibhtiti and lild-vibhuti.
3
Pddma Tantra, I. 2. 16 ff,; cf. Visnutilaka, II. 11. Here the
para is not nitya, eternal, but a periodical manifestation like the
vyiiha Vasudeva. This is, of necessity, also the standpoint of the
Ah. S. which, however, in calling the Absolute nityodita (II. 25),,
and Laksmi uditdnuditakdrd nimefonmesarupini (III. 6), but again
the vyiiha-s nityodita (IX . 31), is not consistent in the use of these
terms.

6 2

IN T R O D U C T IO N TO T H E

PANCARATRA

from the para Vasudeva who, again, may be identified

with, or [more correctly] distinguished from, the A b
solute (Purusa, Brahman, Narayana3 etc.).1 Padma
Tantra describes the para Vasudeva as dividing himself^
for some reason 5 and becoming with one half the
vyiiha Vasudeva, crystal-like , and with the other
Narayana, black as a cloud
the creator o f the
primeval waters ( = maya) .2
God as para is said to be always in the company
o f his cpnsort r! (Laksmi), or o f his wives ri and
Bhumi, o f o f Sri, Bhumi and Nila, or even o f eight or
of twelve sakti-s. The first o f these views3 is naturally
favoured in such works as Ahirbudhnya Samhita, which
makes sakti a real philosophical principle.4 The second
view5 is based (in a rather strained manner) on the
weighty authority o f the Uttaranarayana (end), which
is the continuation, in the White Tajurveda, o f the
Purusa Sukta. The third view is the one adopted in
1 The two are clearly distinguished in Padma Tantra (see
note 3 on p. 60), also in P. Prakasa S., I. 2. 3: purusdd vasudeva bhiit,
.catvaro hy abhavams tatah.
2 Visnutilaka, however (II. 11-16), modifying this account,
identifies the para with Narayana.
3 See Ah. S., V I. 25; I X . 31; X X X V I . 55; Laksmi Tantra
V II. 9-10.
4 This, of course, does not exclude the admission of the existence,
in highest heaven, of minor sakti-s, cf. X X V I I I . 85 of Ah. S.,
enjoining that the worship of God should be followed by that of
the gods and [their] iakli-s (sakli-yositam) forming his retinue.
5 Padma Tantra, I. 2. 46; Pdramesvara S., I. 7, where Bhumi is
called Pusti (laksmipustyoji svarupe ca nitye bhagavata saha).
6 Vihagendra S., 2nd Adhyaya; P. Trakaia S., I.
Tar alara S., Adhyaya-s 8 to 10.

1. 58-9;

TH E PH ILO SO PH Y OF T H E P A N C A R A T R A -S

63

the later ViSistadvaita,* where, however, it plays such

an insignificant part that, for instance, in Tattvatraya
this is the only item connected with the para Vasudeva
which is mentioned but not explained.2 It is apparently
not found at all in the older Samhita literature.3 It is,
however, expounded at some length in one o f the Minor
Upanisad-s, namely Sita-upanisad, where (as in Vihagendra
S., II. 8) Sri, Bhiimi, and Nila are identified respectively
with the iccha, kriya and saksdt sakti o f the Devi; Sri
representing good luck ( bhadra), Bhumi might (prabhava)
and Nila, the moon, sun and fire. Sri, further, is three
fold: as yoga, bhoga and vira-sakti (connected respectively
with yoga practice, domestic and temple worship);
!Nila as soma is also the goddess o f vegetation, and as
sun the goddess o f time, while as fire she is connected
with hunger and thirst, heat and cold; and Bhudevi,
of the nature o f the Pranava, is the sustaining power
o f the earth with its fourteen planes. The mention,
in the Upanisad, o f the rsi Vaikhanasa (though the
passages in question are probably interpolated) seems
to indicate that we should seek for these doctrines
1 Tattvatraya, pp. 85, 122; Tat, D ip., p. 84.
2 The comm, makes a futile attempt at excusing the author,
p . 122.
3 The comms. both of Tattvatraya and Tat. Dip. have no other
Smrti authority for it than a stanza of the Saiva-purana, to which
they add, as Sruti quotation, the passage of the Uttaranarayana
mentioned above, Srinivasadasa explaining that Nila must be
understood implicitly! In P. PrakcSa S. (hardly earlier than the
twelfth century), the three iakti-s, regarded as aspects of the one
Sakti, are connected with the souls, the white Sri taking care bf
the souls in which the sattva gttna dominates, the red Bhu of the
rdjasic ones and the black (nild) Durga of the tamasic ones (I. 1. 5.8-9).

64

INTRODUCTION TO THE PAN CAR A.TR A

rather in the Vaikhanasa than in the Pancaratra-samhita-s. Eight sakti-s, namely Laksmi, etc., are often
mentioned but seldom enumerated. They are evidently
the following eight, associated in Vihagendra S. (III. 5)
with the hero-form (vira-miirti) o f the Sudarsana, to
wit: Kirti (fame), Sri (fortune), Vijaya (victress),,
Sraddha (faith), Smrti (memory), Med ha (intelligence),
Dhrti (endurance) and Ksama (forbearance).1 In
Padma Tantra (I. 2. 38) and Visnutilaka (II. 21), they
are stated to originate from the Srivatsa o f Visnu.2
The following twelve sakti-s are enumerated in Sattvata
S. (I X . 85): Laksmi, Pusti (prosperity), Daya (compas
sion), Nidra (sleep), Ksama, Kanti (beauty), Sarasvati
(learning), Dhrti, Maitri (benevolence), Rati (Venus ) >
Tusti (satisfaction) and Mati (=m edha). These play
a part in the avatara theory and elsewhere. For instance,
the fourteenth avatara is said to be waited upon by
Laksmi, Nidra, Priti ( = Maitri) and Vidya ( = Saras
vati) ; and the thirtyr-ninth by Laksmi, Cinta ( = Mati),
Nidra and Pusti.
O f the two classes3 o f jiva-s or individual souls
existing in the highest heaven, the more exalted ones
are the so-called nitya-s (eternal ones) or siiri-s (sages,
masters), which two words can be fairly accurately"

1 For another eight women see X X V I . 67 ff. of Ah. S.

*
Who, as we have seen (p. 60, note 3), is subordinate here to a.
higher aspect of God.
3
I X . 30.

Mentioned together in several passages of Ah. S., for instance,

TH E P H ILO SO PH Y OF TH E

P A N C A R A T R A -S

65

rendered by ange]s \x They differ from the other

class to be dealt with hereafter not in point o f knowl
edge, both being declared to participate fully in the
Lords omniscience, but in having been always free
from defilement,2 and in holding perpetually certain
offices as coadjutors o f the Lord. The duties they
have to discharge are, however, so mysterious that
hardly any attempt has been made at defining the same.
These angels are, besides the door-keepers and townwatchmen o f the Holy City o f Vaikuntha , called
respectively Canda, Pracanda, Bhadra, Subhadra, etc.
and Kumuda, Kumudaksa, Pundarika, Vamana, etc.,4
the so-called panadas or parisada-s that is companions 1
(retinue) o f God, and in addition to [or among]5 the
latter the three more prominent beings called Ananta,
Garuda and Visvaksena. O f these, Ananta or esa>
the serpent, is the couch o f Visnu, and Garuda, the
1 The existence of these angels is based on such scriptural
passages as the famous tad visnok paramam padam sada palyanti
surayahi and Svetahatara-upanisad, V I. 13: nityo nityan&m cetanaf
cetananam eko bahun&m yo vidadhati kaman.
2 kaddpi samsaram apraptdh, asprsta-samsara-gandhah ( Tattvatraya, pp. 26, 28), the others being only nivrUa-samsarih who have
done with the world (ibid., p. 28).
3 tesam adhikara-mfem iharasya nityecchayaivanSditvena uyavasthapit&h. Tat. Dip., pp. 78-9.
4 ibid., p. 83.
s T heparisada-s are distinguished from Kumuda, etc., as well as
Ananta, etc. in P&dma Tantra, I. 2. 36-40, but often the term is
used in a wider sense. In Tat. Dip., p. 84, * Ananta, Garuda,
Visvaksena, etc. are called nitya-s, but not the door-keepers1
and watchmen ; still, there being among the mukta-s neither
office-bearers nor social distinctions at all (see below), the rest
can be nothing but nitya-s.

66

IN T R O D U C TIO N TO T H E P A N C A R A T R A

king o f birds , his so-called vehicle (vahana), while Visvaksena, the lord o f hosts ,1 is described as a sort o f chief
minister to God in all affairs heavenly and mundane.
This role o f Visvaksena, if taken in earnest, would seem
to clash with the activities o f the vyuha-s; and he appears
to have actually ousted them in that section described
in the thirtieth chapter o f Anandagiri s Samkaravijaya,
which recommends the worship o f him only who rules
the whole universe like a second avatara o f the Lord
residing in Vaikuntha .2 Lastly, it must be stated
that nitya-s can incarnate at will in the world, just as
Visiju himself.3
Another class o f inhabitants o f the highest
lieaven are the mukta-s or liberated. They are described
(V I. 27) as intensely radiating spiritual atoms o f the
size o f a trasarenu (mote in a sunbeam) .4 This descrip
tion is evidently connected with Maha.bM.rata, X II .
346. 13 ff. where it is said that the liberated become
atomic after having been burnt up by the sun; and in so
far as this undoubtedly means that the liberated by
1 Called also iesasana, the eater of leavings, namely of God, that
is, presumably, the executor of his plans; cf. the commentaries,
Tattvatraya, p. 28; the explanation, ibid., of the serpents name
Sesa (the appurtenance of Visnu, namely his bed, seat, etc.) is
hardly convincing. Visvaksena occurs in the story narrated in
Adhyaya X L I of Ah. S., stanzas 18 and 30 ff.
2 ibid. is mentioned a gorgeous temple of Visvaksena in a
place [in Northern India] called Marundha (spelt Marundha in
the poetical paraphrase, Anandasrama Series no. 22, p. 559).
C f. p. 52, note 1.
4 svariipam anumdtram syaj jMntinandaikalaksaqam |
trasarenu-pramanfis te raJmi-koti-vihhmitdh ||,
Visvaksena S., loc. cit,, p. 13; the second half also in Ah. S., V I. 27.

T H E P H ILO SO PH Y OF T H E P A N C A R A T R A -S

67

passing through the sun get rid o f their subtle body,

Tattvatraya (p. 12) is right in teaching the atom icity
-of any, even the bound, soul, if described in itself.1
T h e liberated, then, are bodiless. But this only means
that they have no karma-made 5 b o d y ; they can assume,
whenever they like, a non-natural5 body,2 or even
simultaneously several such bodies,3 and freely roam
1 The soul is also vibhu, in spite of its atomicity; see below
section 6 of this part of our Introduction.
2 As a matter of fact, the soul in heaven seems never to be
imagined without a body, it being bodiless, and necessarily so, only
in its nara condition (P. PrakaSa S. SI. 14) that is during the Great
Night, when even non-natural matter is non-existent (unified). W e
may, therefore, ask in this connection whether the atomic body
mentioned in chapter 20 (si. 31 if.) is not either a non-natural
body possessed already, unknowingly, by the soul, or else a third
* natural body, the only one remaining to the soul for its passage
from the Sun to Heaven. For, according to the view of Kausitakiupanifad which has been adopted by the Viiistadvaitin-s and was
apparently also known to the Pancaratrin-s, the liberated soul
lias still many stations to pass on its further journey from the sun
to the river Viraja (Vijara) which is the boundary between this
and the other world, and it cannot do so, evidently, in a bodi
less condition, for which reason Tat. Dip. teaches (p. 77) that not
before crossing the Viraja does the soul exchange its subtle (second
physical) body for a non-natural one, whereas TripddsibhUtimahdnardyana-upanuad (chs. V and V I), on the assumption
that the Viraja is not the said boundary, but still within the Egg,
declares that the soul through bathing in Viraja exchanges its
subtle body for a magical body (kevalamantrarmya-dioyatejomayaniratrSaydnandamaya-mahioisi}us&Tiipya-mgTahaSarira, later simply called
mantramaya-sarira) , and long afterwards, in a place far outside the
Egg, namely the Brahmavidya river, casts off the magical body
in order to assume its final garment, the immortal Divine body
consisting of the bliss of [Brahman] knowledge (or: of knowledge
and bliss; vidydnandamaya-amrtadiiya-Sarird).
3 As Yogin-s can do already while still alive, the classical
examole being that of Saubhari (Tattvatraya, p. 31; Tat. Dip.,
p . 70).

68

IN TR O D U C TIO N TO T H E P A N C A R A T R A

about in the whole world.1 They are, however, ex

cluded from actual interference in worldly affairs,z
differing in this respect from the angels, as alreadynoticed. Among the mukta-s there exists no gradation
or social difference o f any kind they being as equal,
essentially, as for instance grains o f rice3 still their
mode o f life differs by the difference o f devotional
inclinations preserved from their last earthly existence*
e Whatever form [o f God] the devotee has been attached
to in his mundane existence, that kind does he behold
as an inhabitant o f the highest heaven. 4 W e are
not told whether the liberated have any intercourse
with each other, but if the bodies o f pitr-s (ancestors,,
etc. lost by death) are created for them by G od,5 and
if, as is often said, they are intent upon nothing but
service ( kaimkarya) to God, then, indeed, they are
practically alone with their God.
The Visistadvaita teaches that there exists a second
class o f mukta-s, namely the so-called kevala-s or exclu
sive ones, who are actually altogether isolated because
they have reached liberation, not by devotion to God,,
but by constant meditation upon the real nature o f their
own soul. They are said to be living, Jike the wife,,
w ho has lost her husband , in some com er outside
1 Tat. Dip., p. 78.
2 ibid., p. 78; cf. Brahma-sutra, IV . 4. 17.
8 Tattvatraya, p. 33.
4 Ah. S., V I. 29-30.
* Tat. Dip., p. 53,

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PAN CARATRA-S

69

both the highest heaven and the Cosmic Egg.1 We

"have so far not found this doctrine in any o f the Panca
ratra Samhita-s but should not be surprised if it were
-eventually discovered in one or several o f them.
3.

I n t e r m e d ia t e C r e a t io n

(.Evolution, Second Stage)

Based on Pure Creation2 but achieved with
only one myriadth part o f the infinitely small portion o f
divine energy employed in it,3 is that other manifesta
tion of- the bhuti-sakti, which is different from the pure
one [suddhetara), that is, partly m ixed and partly
impure ,4 namely the kutastha-purusa and the majyaiakti with their respective developments. This nonPure Creation falls into a primary and a secondary one,
and the former, again, consists o f two well-defined
1 Tat. D ip ., p. 76; Tattvatraya, pp. 28, 121.
2 tanmUlaiva, V I . 7.
3 II I . 2 7 ; Laksmi Tantra, I V . 35.
4 The use, in our Samhita, o f the terms Suddhetara and suddhaJuddha is of a bewildering ambiguity. In V I I . 68-70 the term
Juddhetara has a different meaning in each of the three stanzas,
namely in 6 8 ; comprising the pure and what is different from i t ;
in 6 9 : other than pure
and in 70: belonging to both the pure
and what is different from it what is different from it (ita ra =
tad-itara) being in 68 inclusive of, in 70 exclusive o f the mixed
-creation, the latter being evidently not included either in 69.
Similarly the sense of suddhasuddha in V . 9 and L I X . 55 concurs
with the first o f the above meanings (aiuddha implying th e 1 m ixed ),
a n d that o f iuddhy-aiuddki-maya in V I . 34 with the third. Instead
o f mixed {Visvaksena S., loc. cit., pp. 128 ff.) the present Samhita
says pure-impure

70

INTRODUCTION TO THE PAN CARATRA

stages1 o f which the first, to be described in this section,

may well be called the Intermediate Creation.
The kutastha-purusa, called also simply kutasthaP
or purusa, is explained in our Samhita (VI. 33-4) in the
words: An aggregate o f souls, similar to a bee-hive,3
the pure-impure condition o f bhiiti such is the purusa:
piled up by souls blunted by beginningless germimpressions ( vasand) ; with which should be compared1
the definition in Laksmi Tantra (VII. 11-12): By
purusa is meant the all-knowing, all-faced bhoktr
kutastha: as his parts go forth from him all the eternal
souls (jwa-s ), and likewise at [the time of] dissolution the
work [-bound] souls, go back to him, the highest soul
( n a r a ) The kutastha-purusa, then, is the soul o f souls,
that is to say, the totality, regarded as the source^ o f
all disembodied but karma-bound (non-liberated) souls.
1 Treated
Samhita.

respectively in Adhyaya-s V I ?.nd V I I

of our

2 There are several speculations about the meaning of this

word which is, of course, the old Samkhya term mentioned alreadyin the Buddhist Nikaya-s. The explanation rasmat sihita existing;
in the form of a heap (collection, aggregate) , seems to be favoured,
in our Samhita, by the image o f the bee-hive (see below). Other
passages, however ( X V I . 38, cf. 4 6 ; X X I V . 24, etc.), suggest the:
idea of the purusa standing at the top of the soul's pedigree.
T he latter explanation is the one which Vedantadeiika prefers
to the former; see his commentary on Sribhdsya for Bhagavadgita,
X I I . 3 (anekesam samtanyamananam purusanam s&dharano hi purvak
purusah kutasthah).
3 In I X . 25 this image is used for the maya-iakti, while in I X .
27 the kiitastha is compared with [the hole of] an Udumbara tree
swarming with countless bees.
4 The kufastha (and likewise the four Manu-s to be mentioned)
is not a mere collective being; cf. the description of Brahman as
consisting of the totality of bound souls .

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PAN CARATRA-S

71

before the creation and after the dissolution o f the

non-pure universe.1
He is o f a mixed nature ( suddhy-asuddhi-maya, V I. 34)
in that he is pure in himself but impure on account o f
his carrying the above-mentioned germ-impressions left
over from the latest life-period o f the souls .
The kiitastha-purusa, and, as will be seen, also the
maya-iakti, take their rise from Pradyumna. The
origin o f the kutastha from Pradyumna is made to
agree with the Purusa-sukta by describing the kutastha
as consisting of four couples, namely the male and
female ancestors o f the four castes, springing respect
ively from the mouth, arms, legs and feet o f Pradyumna.
Accordingly, the kutastha is called ' the purusa o f four
pairs
' the purusa consisting o f twice four
f the
aggregate o f Manu-s * the eight Manu-s
f the four
Manu-s ,2 or simply the Manu-s and he is imagined
as retaining this form while ' descending the long line
o f tattva-s in the manner to be described, until he is
fully materialized and thus prepared for further multi
plication. It is stated (VII. 54 ff.) 3 that the Manu-s are
1 Note that the liberated souls do not return to the kutastha.
2 Visvaksena S., loc cit., p. 126. These seem to be the four
Manu-s that have puzzled all commentators and translators o f
Bhagauadgita, X . 6, in which case the above conception o f the
kutastha (though not necessarily the Pancaratra one) would be older
than the Gita. Note that the seven rsi-s mentioned together with
the four Manu-s in the verse referred to of the Gita have the same
names as the citraJikhandin-s who, according to the Narayaniya,.
are the first promulgators o f the Pancaratra.
3 In contradiction to I V . 13: cetana-varga, unless this be meant
in a restricted sense.

72

INTRODUCTION TO THE PAN CARATRA

the origin merely o f the pitr-s, devarsi-s and men,1 and

that there are other * wombs 5 (and, consequently, lines
o f evolution) such as those o f the deva-s, daitya-s, gandharva-s, etc.;2 but the latter are nowhere described.3
The m&ya-iakti, called also simply sakti, further
bhagavat-sakti, mulaprakrti, sasvadvidya, or simply vidya*
is the same to the material universe as is the kutastha
to the world o f souls; that is to say, it is the non-spiritual
energy which ccmes into existence, by the side o f the
pumsa, as the primitive form o f the matter or nature
(prakrti) into which the Manu-s are destined gradually to
descend \ As f root-matter , however (IV. 4), it
differs from the mulaprakrti o f the Samkhya-s (mentioned
as such in V II. 1) in that the latter is only one o f its
two manifestations, namely its so-called guna b o d y
( gawna or gupamaya vapus), the other one being the
1 Not of all men but only of the sattvic ones, according to
Some authorities; see below, fifth section.
2 Altogether eight such forms (murty-asfaka) are enumerated,
along.with the vibhava-s, etc. in Pddma Tantra (I. 2 . 29-30), namely
brShmi, prajapatya, vaisnavi, divyfi, arsi, manusi, Ssttri and paiiaci;
cf. Samkhya-karika, 58.
a And cannot, indeed, be consistently described after the
dissection of the purusa for the purpose of man. Philosophy clashes
here with mythology.
4
O f all these names, to which may be add^d from Laksmi
Tantra. Mahalaksmi, Mahesvari and Bhadrakali,-the first alone
(IV . 5 2 ; cf. V I . 35-6) is fairly unequivocal. The usual one, in
our Samhita, is Sakti. Vidya, as an Agamic term, means magical
power , that is much the same as maya, avidya, and, after all, Jakti,
and all of these are synonyms of more than one kind of prakrti and
therefore, like dhenu, etc., in constant danger o f misinterpreta
tion. The adjective vaidya, rather frequent in our Samhita, is as
a rule a mere substitute for prakrtika.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PX.NCARATRA-S

73

* Time body (kalamaya vapus) consisting o f kala, Time

and its subtle cause, namely niyati, Restriction.

These three last-mentioned, that is niyati, kala and
guna, are declared to originate from the forehead,1
eyebrows and ears respectively o f Pradyumna (VI. 12),
just as the four pairs o f Manu-s have been derived from
his mouth, etc.
Having produced the kutastha-purusa and the
threefold maya-sakti, Pradyumna transfers both of
them, the sakti with the purusa in i t (VI. 14), for
further development (vardhayeti, V I. 13) to Aniruddha.
Developed for a thousand years (LV. 48)2 by
the yoga o f Aniruddha (VI. 14) there emerge now once
more, but this time successively, the already-mentioned
material principles (V I. 43 ff.): first, directly from
Aniruddha, Sakti; then, from sakti, niyati; from niyati,
kala; from kala, the sattva guna; from the latter the
rajo guna; and, from the latter, the tamo gum ; and
simultaneously and in the same order the Manu-s
travel through these tattva-s by descending into each
o f them, after its appearance, and staying in it, for
some time, as a foetus (kalali-bhuta, VI. 45)which
means (to judge from their further development) that
they appropriate successively the individual faculty
which each o f these tattva-s is capable of bestowing.
1 For the connection of niyati with the forehead, cf. the phrase
dalafs likhitam, written on the forehead=fate.
2 Cf. such passages as Brhadaranyaka-upanisad, I. 1. 2 relating
how the year (that is, time) is born after having been carried by
Prajapati for one year.

74

INTRODUCTION TO THE PAN CARATRA

By the way it may be mentioned here that the chapteron Dissolution (IV. 54-60) inserts the kutastha between
Aniruddha and s'akti, assigning thus to the kutastha a
position similar to that o f Brahman in the Upanisad-s,.
creating the world and then entering it.
We have now to say some words on each o f those;
educts o f mdyd-Sakti.
Mdyd-sakti, niyati and kala occupy in the philosophy
o f the Pancaratra the very place which is held in the
Saiva systems by the six so-called kancuka-s or jackets,,
that is limiting forces owing to which the soul loses its
natural perfections (omniscience, etc.).1 As a matter
o f fact, the doctrine o f the six kancuka-s called maya,
kala, vidyd, rdga, niyati and kola seems to be a mere
elaboration o f the older doctrine, found with the
Pancaratra-s, o f only three powers o f limitation (samkoca), namely the three mentioned. These three appear
in Laksmi Tantra as the three mothers and creators o f the
world called Mahalaksmi,2 Mahavidya,3 and M ahakali4 and representing respectively the rdjasic, sattvicand tdmasic aspect o f the Goddess; and they are said
to be Aniruddhas wife Rati in the form o f the sheath
o f mayd (mdyd-koia) .5
1 For an able account of these see Chatterji, Kashmir Shaivism,,
pp. 75 ff. Gf. also Schomerus, D er Qawa-Siddhanta, p. 137.
2 Or Mahasri, Parameivari, Bhadrakali, etc.
3 O r Mahavani, Sarasvati, Mahadhenu, etc.
4 O r Maharaaya, Kalaratri, Nidra, etc.
8 Laksmi Tantra, V I I . 13, IV . 67, V I . 18-19; see for the names
also IV . 36, 39 ff,, 62 and V , V I , V I I (passim).

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PANCARATRA-S

75

Niyati, the akti consisting o f great knowledge/'

is the subtle regulator o f everything2 such as the

form which [a being] may have, its work, and its nature
(V I . 48). It is clear from this definition 3 that niyati
is not only what the Vaisesika-s call dis, to wit the regu
lator o f positions in space, 4 but that it also regulates, as:
karmic necessity, the intellectual capacity, inclinations,,
and practical ability o f every being; that is to say,,
that it includes the functions o f the above-mentioned
Saiva principles cabled vidya, raga and kala.5
Kdla, Time, is defined (IV. 48) as the mysterious,
power existing in time, which urges on everything , andr
in another passage (VI. 51), as the principle which pur
sues 5 6 everything to be matured, as the stream [is after]
the bank o f the river. It is further said (VI. 49) that
this is c the cooking (maturing) form o f time 7 Kala,
then, as originating from niyati and giving origin to the
guna-s, is not time as it appears to us (subjective time),.
1 mahSvidySmayi faktifi, I V . 51.

Cf. p. 74, note 3.

2 suksmali sarva-niyamakaft, V I . 46.

3 Which is foreshadowed in Brhadaranyaka-upanisad, I I I . 8. 9r
By the order o f this Imperishable One are kept asunder ( vidhrtaur
tifthaiah) sun and m o o n . . . are the gods dependent on the per
former o f sacrifices, the manes on the funeral gift. Cf. also ibid..
I V . 4. 2 2 : setur vidharanah.
4 Chatterji, Hindu Realism, pp. 58 if.
6 The Saiva principle niyati, as distinct from vidya, etc. was
originally in all probability nothing more than the dii o f theVaisesika-s; but the use o f the word in common language in the
sense of fate has (at least in the Dravidian school) obscured itsrelation to the other kaftcuka-s.
O r counts, measures (kalayati).
7 kalasya pacanam rupatti.

76

INTRODUCTION TO THE PAN CARATRA

but a subtle force conditioning it. This distinction

between the ordinary or empiric and a higher or trans
cendental time can be traced back 1 to the kola hymns
c f the Atharvaveda and is ,recognizable in the great
epic in such phrases as Time leads me in time \2 One
Upanisad 3 speaks of fthe time that has parts (sakala
M ia) and non-time having no parts
the former
being later than the sun and stars, the latter earlier;
farther on, time that cooks (matures) all beings, but
is excelled by ' him in whom time is cooked \ From
these two famous texts and similar ones, it was eventually
concluded (1) that the changing time which we observe
in daily life is only time as an effect {karya-kala) , the
cause of which must be a time without sections (akhandaM ia ) and unchanging; 4 and (2) that there must
be a sphere or condition which is totally unaffect
ed by time,5 though time exists in it as an instrument
to be used at will. That is to say that there are,
:strictly speaking, three kinds of time, to wit: (1) effected
or gross time, which plays no part until after the
creation of the tattva-s; 6 (2) causal or subtle 5 time
which, though relatively eternal (and often called so)
1 See my comprehensive sketch of the earlier history of kdla
in Vber den Stand der indischen Philosophic zur eit Mahdviras und
-Buddhas, pp. 17 to 30.
2 kdlah kale nayati mam, X I I . 227. 29.
3 Maitrayana, V I . 15.
4 Tat. D ip ., p. 50, and elsewhere.
5 Tattvatraya, p. 122.
0
Though, as will be seen, it comes into existence already
.before the latter is completed.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PAN CARATRA-S

77

is also created, namely by Aniruddha (or Pradyumna) *

and (3) f highest time existing in Pure Creation. It
is, evidently, in this sense that our Samhita declares
(LIII. 10-11): 1 Gross is called the time possessing
one-sixth o f a second ( lava) , etc. ; subtle, the one deter
mining the tattva-s; while that which pervades the
activity o f the vyiiha-s is styled highest time. That
there may be a still higher time connected with
Vasudeva alone is denied in the words (LIII. 11-12):
f Effecting by time belongs always to the triad o f
vyiiha-s [only]: the Lord Vasudeva is not a vyiiha 1 nor
a possessor of time. It follows, then, that the tattva
called kila emanating from niyati is the second or
f subtle 5 kind of time.2
' The guna body, or that form of sakti mentioned
above which is manifested gradually from kala 5 (VI. 512) consists of the three guna-s, as already remarked.
It has to be added that each guna, while evolving in the
manner described, comes under the special protectorship
o f Aniruddha in the form o f the Trimurti; that is to
say: Aniruddha as Visnu becomes the superintendent
o f sattva, as Brahman that o f rajas, and as Rudra
that of tamas. These three gods, together with their
sakti-s (Laksmi, Sarasvati, Gauri),3 regarded as the:
1 Though said to form a tetrad together with the vyiiha-s,
V . 25-6.
2 There is more material about this subject (for instance,.
Adhyaya 3 of P . Prakaia S.) ; and it will probably be found that the
conception of time is not exactly the same in some Samhita-s
as in others.
3 W h o, however, according to Laksmi Tantra, V . 6 ff., have
sprung: Brahman and Laksmi from Mahalaksmi-f-Pradyumna;

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INTRODUCTION TO THE PAN CARATRA

forces underlying the formation o f the avyakta, are

called in Laksmi Tantra (VI. 20-1) the Sheath of
Generation (prasuti-kcsa)-1 In the same text (IV. 32 if.),
it is stated with regard to the first origin o f the guna-s
that they have been formed from [an infinitesimal
part of] the first, second and third o f the six guna-s
of the Lord.2 The qualities which become manifest
through the guna-s are according to Ahirbudhnya Samhita'.
1. lightness, brightness, healthiness, pleasure; 2.
motion, passion, restlessness, pain; and 3. heaviness,
obstruction, inertia, stupefaction.
After the guna-s have evolved separately, they be
come, for the purpose o f creation, a uniform mass
called as a rule avyakta (the non-manifest) or
mulaprakrti (root-nature), but also, according to our
Samhita (VI. 63), by such names as tamas (darkness),3
guna-samya (equality o f guna-s),* avidya (ignorance),
svabhava (nature), aksara (the imperishable), yoni
Rudra and Sarasvati from Mahakali-f-Samkarsana; and Visnu
and Gauri from M ah avidya-(-Aniruddha.
1 This is the third kosa or material husk of the Devi, the
second being the above-mentioned mdya-kofa, and the first the
Jakti-koJa comprising the vyuha-s and their lakti-s. Three more
kola-s are connected with the lower primary and the secondary
creation to be described in the next two sections of this Introduction.
2 The other three being employed for the creation of kdla;
ibid., V . 24-5.
3 That is, undifferentiatedness. Cf, the expression iantdtman
used promiscuously with avyakta in Kafhaka-upanisad, I II. 10-13.
4 Meaning that in this condition, as distinguished from the
later inequality of guna-s [guna-vaisamya), the three forces are
-equally distributed in every particle of matter.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PANCARATRA-S

79

(womb),

ayoni (the unborn), guna-yoni ( =gunamayajo n i, guna-m&de womb).

4.

L ow er

P r im a r y

C r e a t io n

(Evolution, Third Stage.)

The descent o f the Manu-s into Matter having
T e a c h e d the tamo guna (VI. 59), and the three guna-s
having joined to form the mulaprakrti (VI. 61 ff.), there
follows now that evolution which is the only one
known to the classical Samkhya with which, as we
shall see, the Pancaratra does on the whole, but not
throughout, agree.
At the very outset there is this difference that,
whereas the classical Samkhya has only two principles
to start with, namely purusa and prakrti, our Sarphita
"begins this chapter with stating emphatically (though
not in a polemic way) that the development which
now sets in, results from the combined activity of
three principal agents, namely prakrti, purusa and kala
(matter, soul, time).1 The mutual relation of the first
two is explained in exactly the same way as in the classical
Samkhya: prakrti changes, like milk and clay [changing,
respectively, to curds, etc., and pots, etc.] owing to the
proximity ( = magnetic influence) o f the unchangeable
purusa. But both these tattva-s are being cooked
1 In the classical Samkhya, time is a mere quality o f matter
(.SSmkhya-sHtra, II. 12) an impossible view in an early system;
cf. Schrader, Vber den Stand der indischen Philosophic zur e ii MahSviras und Buddhas.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE PA N C A R A T R A

by Time.1 Again, there is this difference, that there are

not many purusa-s, as in classical Samkhya, but at this
stage only the one kutastha or samasti (collective)
purusa.

As the first product o f this combined activity o f the

three there emerges frcm the aqyakta the mahat (masc.
neutr.) or Great One
called also mahat tattva or
the Great Principle.2 O iir Samhita enumerates (VII.
8-9) the following more or less pregnant synonyms
for this term: mdya,* go (cow),3 avani (earth), brahmi
(the Cosmic One), vadhu (woman),3 vrddhi (growth),
mati (intellect), madhu (honey),4 akhyati, (non-discrimination), isvara (Lord), and prajna (Wise) 5 to which some
others, mostly synonyms o f mati, have to be added,,
notably buddhi.
About Mahat two seemingly contradictory state
ments are put side by side, o f which the first clearly
shows that the Pancaratra has drawn from an older
form o f the Samkhya philosophy than the one which
has survived in the Karika and the Sutra-s. The
1
How, in spite o f this, the purusa
(aparindmin, V I I . 6), is not explained.

remains

unchanged

*
The mahat. and remaining principles are symbolized by the
lotus growing from the navel o f Padmanabha (Aniruddha); see
Indraratra, I. 18 (mahad-ddyam paAkajam), etc.
3 Cf. note 4 on page 72.
4 Cf. Brhadaranyaka-upanisad, II. 5.
s The last two names are from Maniuhya-upanifad where they
are used with reference to the susupti plane of consciousness. For
akhyati see below p. 84.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PANCARATRA-S

81

mahat, we are first told (V II. 9-11),1 is threefold, in

conformity with the three guna-s, its tamas element
appearing as kala (time), its sativa element as buddhi
(reason, intellect), and its rajas element asprdna (vitality).
The next statement, which would hopelessly con
flict with the preceding one, unless we refer it not to the
cosmic mahat but to buddhi as an individual organ
(cf. below), is essentially identical with the teaching
o f the twenty-third dryd of Sdmkhya-kdrikd, namely
that mahat manifests itself in four sdttvic and four tdmasic
forms, being respectively good actions ( dharma), knowl
edge, dispassion and might, and their opposites.2
Now, as regards kala, which is here defined as
consisting of truii-s, lava-s, etc.5,3 it is evident that in
this passage a different and lower form of time must be
meant than its subtle or cooking form originating,
as we have seen, from niyati. For, subtle Time
belongs to Unmanifest Nature, while mahat is the
1 Cf. Laksmi Tantra, X V I . 2 -4 :
sa mahan ndma, tasydpi vidhas tisrah prakirtitSh \
sdttviko buddhir ity ukto, rajasah prSna eva hi ||
tamasah kala ity uktas tesdm vyakhyam imam Jrnu |
buddhir adhyavasayasya, prnnafi prayatanasya ca ||
kalah kalanarilpasya pariiiamasya karanam |
2 The role o f the taijasa (rajasic) mahat is, according to the
twenty-fifth drya, to co-operate with both the sdttvika and the
tdmasa.
3 And similarly in the corresponding passage o f Laksmi Tantra
quoted above, note 1 on this page; for which reason we cannot but
believe that really time is meant here and not the Time-lotus
producing Brahman and Sarasvati, as stated in Laksmi Tantra,
V . 27 ff., which rather appears to be another instance of mythology
clashing with philosophy.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE PAN CARATRA

beginning o f manifest Nature.1 It follows that kala as

a form o f mahat can be nothing else but gross time
referred to above, pp. 76-7. And that this is not only
the form o f time which we perceive, but first o f all the
one with which we perceive,2 must be concluded from
the fact that the two other forms o f mahat, namely buddhi
and pram, are regarded as individual powers acquired
by the Manu-s during their descent5 through the Great
Principle. With regard to buddhi it is expressly stated
{V II. 13-14) that to the eight Manu-s, while dwelling
in the womb o f Vidya
there originates that
discerning organ ( vaidyam indnyam), called bodhana,
by means o f which they can ascertain [the nature o f ]
things, discriminating between the real and the unrear.
The five prana-s are in classical Samkhya3 a common
function o f buddhi, aharnkara and manas,. which three
together form the so-called inner organ ( antahkarana) ;
whereas, according to the statement mentioned in our
1 In the comm, on Tattvatraya, p. 79, the relation o f the two
kinds of time distinguished there are actually likened to that of
the avyakta and the vyakta.
2 Time as a form-of-perception anschauungsform. W e admit
that it is almost impossible to believe these mythologizing philo
sophers to have been capable o f discovering a Kantian conception,
and we are far from asserting that they were clearly conscious of
distinguishing objective and subjective time, but we do not see
how the above conclusion can be avoided without straining the
passage. Drawing parallels is undoubtedly a dangerous thing in
comparative philosophy, but it is equally dangerous to adhere at
any cost to ones prejudices. W e shall see (in section 6, below)
that the idea o f spatial transcendence, to which according to
Deussen, Indian philosophy has not been able to rise, was perfectly
familiar to the Pancaratrin-s, and not only to them, in spite of
the misleading terms used for it.
8 Kdnka 2 9 ; Sutra II . 31.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PANCARATRA-S

83

Samhita, corroborated by V II. 42-3, they come from

mahat only.1

We now turn to the question: What is mahat?,

which question, on account o f its importance for the
history o f Indian philosophy, must be answered at some
length.
The one important thing to be noticed in connec
tion with mahat is that buddhi is not a mere synonym
for it, as in classical Samkhya, but one o f its three forms:
the sattvic one; and that the individual organ buddhi
is a product o f the sattvic mahat in exactly the same sense
as manas is a product o f the sattvic ahamkara.'1 This
is a sign o f antiquity; for in Kathaka-upanisad also
(III. 10-13) buddhi and mahat are not yet identical, the
former, called Knowledge Self ( jm na atman), being a
lower principle than the Great Self which, in its
1 There is in Laksmi Tantra (V . 27b-33) an enigmatical
explanation o f the mahat which does not agree with the stanzas
quoted (p. 81, note 1) from, the same work and representing
the view o f our Samhita. The mahat, according to that text, is
called so ( The Great O ne ) on account of its comprehending
the lotus, the male, and the female (padma-pum-stn-samalambhad
mahattvam tasya Sabdyate), the lotus being subsequently identified
with prana (whose quality is spanda vibration ), the female with
buddhi, and the male with the purnsa as the performer of good
and evil deeds. Then there follows, just as in our Samhita after
the description of the threefold mahat, a passage on the 2 x 4 sattvic
and tamasic manifestations of buddhi, and after that the ahamkara
and the remaining tattva-s are explained. Tat. D ip ., p. 50, in
rejecting the view that time is tdmaso mahdn, evidently means to
say that the definition is too narrow. According to a view men
tioned in the comm, on Tattvatraya, p. 79, the several kinds of time
differ in the rapidity of vibrations, with which should be compared
ihe statement above, p. 32, note 1.
2 O n the latter, generally called oaikrta ahamkara, see below.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE PA N C A R A TR A

turn, is inferior to the c Quiet Self (sdnta dtman)

which, again, is excelled by the purusa. On the other
hand, this distinction between buddhi and mahat, to
gether with the synonyms o f the latter, furnishes the
solution to the riddle, never before satisfactorily
answered, as to the origin o f the term mahat. The
synonyms may be divided into two classes, to wit (1)
those that are mere names o f prakrti, such as go, avanir
brahmi, vadhu, vrddhi, madhu; and (2) those referring toconsciousness. O f the latter class, again, those which are
common to mahat and the organ buddhi, namely buddhi,,
mati, trayi and vidya, are for this reason as little signi
ficant in themselves as are the names of prakrti. But the
remaining three names referring to the subconscious life,
namely akhyati,1 prajna and isvara, clearly indicate
that nothing else can be meant by mahat than the prana
or mukhya prana o f the ancient Upanisad-s, which is both
vitality [prana, ayus) and sub- or super-conscious intel
ligence [prajna), and on whom the five prana-s as well as
the senses are said to depend like servants on their
master.2 Mahat is cosmic prana, the Breath o f the
World
the Unconscious
that is the physical, yet
intelligent energy at work at the building up and pre
serving of organisms.3 Prana in this sense is called in the
1 The non-discrimination in dreamless sleep; for the next
two names see note 5 on p. 80.
2 The principal passages to be compared, also for the fol
lowing, are: Kauntaki Up,, I I I , I V , 20, I I . 1; Chandogya Up., I V . 3 ;
Maitmyana Up., I I . 6 ; PraJna Up., II.
3 Cf. the mahad brahma o f the Bhagmadgitd, X I V . 3-4, and note
that brahmi is among the synonyms of mahat, and brahman among

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PAN CARATRA-S

85

TJpanisad-s: Brahman, protector (ruler, lord) o f the

world, breath ( atman) o f the gods, generator o f beings,
eater, the one sage; and in Chdndogya-upanisad, III. 7,
an (apparently current) stanza on the prana is quoted
in which the phrase occurs: great they call his might
(lit. greatness) (mahdntam asya mahimanam ahuh) which
is perhaps the source o f the name mahat. A proof for
the correctness o f our equation mahat= prana is contained
in the enumeration, in the twelfth chapter o f this
Samhita, o f the principles taught in the Samkhya system,
where in the tenth place we do not find mahat, as
should be expected, but prana.1 This equation throws
also an unexpected light on the connection o f Buddhism
and Samkhya, namely in that it permits o f the pro
portion mahat: buddhi vijndna-dhdtu: vijndna-skandha.
For, while there can be little doubt2 as to the corres
pondence 3 of the organ buddhi with the vijnana-skandha,
it is practically certain that mahat=prdna is the very
same thing as that re-connection consciousness (pratisamdhi-vijndna) which, according to the Buddhas doc
trine, descends into the womb o f the mother, at the
time o f conception, bridging over death and birth,
and to which liberation alone puts an end, whereas
those o f prana (see below) as well as, in some Samkhya treatises
{for instance the comm, on TattvasamSsa), those o f prakrti.
1 W e were not yet aware o f the equation, when writing our
article on the Sas(itantra in Z D M G , 1914, and consequently thought
o f the five prana-s only.
2 Except for those who have made up their minds to distribute
the teachings o f the nikaya-s between two radically opposed sects.
3 Not, o f course, identity.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE PANCARATRA

the personal consciousness (vijMna-skandha) is destroyed

in every single death.1 Again, one cannot help thinking:
that even the atman taught in the famous Yajnavalkiya
Kan da is very nearly identical with our mahat. He
is the subconscious energy, the place o f union [ekayana)T
the prana to which, in dreamless sleep and death, all
our conscious functions return,2 in order to go forth
from it once more in awakening and birth respectively*
he is the [sub- and super-] ' conscious self [pmjna atman)
embraced by which in dreamless sleep man has no[longer any] notion o f outside and inside (IV. 3. 21);
he is this great being (mahad bhiltam), infinite, shorelessr
all-consciousness (vijmna-ghana) which [in the form
o f limited conscious functions] arises c from the elements
and vanishes into them again (II. 4. 12); he is the
name (mman) surviving the decay o f the body
(III. 2. 12) and building up the new embryo (IV. 4. 4)
just as the Buddhist vijrnna element which moreover,,
as contrasted with the body (riipa), is also called wman'y
he is, in short, that great, unborn Self which, among
the pram s, is the one consisting o f consciousness.3
And, finally, this description o f the Self seems to
agree, in all essential points, with that also in the
Tattvamasi section o f the Chandogya-upanisad, though
1 The vijttna-dh&tu of the nikSya-s, therefore, must be regarded
as a sort of consciousness in potentia from which the satf-ayatana,.
and, through it, the caitasikah skandhah evolve.
2 Brhadaranyaka-upanisad, I V .
dravati pran&yaiva.

3. 3 6 : evam evSyam purusah. . . ,

8 sa oa e$a mahan aja Stmdyo ''yam vijfiajiamayafr pronesu (IV . 4. 2 2 ).

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PANCARATRA-S

87

there already two higher principles appear than the

prana, namely tejas and para devata while in Brhadaranyakaupanisad only a very feeble attempt is made at distinguish
ing the diman from the prma. The position o f the
prana, then, is still unsettled in the older Upanisad-s;
and it is, we hold, from this half-settled idea o f the
prana or dtman that the pre-classical Samkhya, on which,
the Pancaratra is based, has derived its conception
o f the mahat as the Unconscious consisting o f intel
ligence, vitality and time.
From mahat, again, originates the cosmic tattva
called ahamkara or I-maker . As its synonyms the
usual ones are given (abhimana, abhimantr, ahamkrti) ,
besides Prajapati (Lord o f creatures) and boddhr (Attention-maker). It has a saiivic, a rajasic and a tdmasic
form called respectively vaikdrika, taijasa and bhutadi.
It manifests itself individually as egotistic interest
(samrambha) and imagination, will (samkalpa) in accord
ance with the two organs called the [individual]
ahamkara and manas with which it endows the Manu-s
passing through its w om b (V II. 20, 42-3). Manas
is declared a direct product of the vaikarika, and ahamkara evidently comes from the bhutadi, while the taijasa
seems to participate equally in the production o f both
those organs.1
From ahamkara the Manu-s further receive the ten
senses ( indriya-s), but only indirectly, that is, in the
course of the evolution of the Elements. To understand
1 See p. 81, note 2.

88

INTRODUCTION TO THE P A N CA RA TRA

this somewhat complicated last phase in the evolu

tion o f tattva-s it will be useful to remember the follow
ing table:

Ahamkara
Bhiitadi
Tanmatra-s:
sabda
sparsa

rupa
rasa

>-

gandha---- >

-<

Bhuta-s:

Taijasa

->

Buddhindriya-s:

akasa

srotra

vayu
tejas
apas

tvac
caksus

prthivi

Vaikarika

rasana
ghrana

Karmendriya-s
vac
pani
pada
upastha
payu

From the bhiitadi, assisted by the taijasa,1 is

produced sound-in-itself (sabda-tanmatra) ; the latter is
the immediate cause o f ether (akasa), while at the
same time, with its co-operation (sahakaritva) and that of
the taijasa, the vaikarika produces hearing (srotra),
and then, with the co-operation o f the latter, speech
(vac). Hereafter, from sound-in-itself is produced touchin-itself (sparsa) which in its turn is the immediate
cause o f air (vayu), while as a mediate cause it helps in
producing the skin-sense ( tvac) with the help o f which,
finally, the faculty o f handling (pani) originates. And
so forth.
It must be admitted that our Samhita mentions
nothing about co-operation , and that from the seventh
1
Cf. Sdmkkya-kdrikS, 2 5 : taijasad ubhqyam. Laksmi Tantra,
speaking on non-Pure Creation generally, says (IV . 34) that
* mostly rajas is engaged in it which is, however, flanked by
saliva and tamas (abhitah satlvatamasi gunau dvau tasya tif(hatah).

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PANCARATRA-S

89

Adhyaya it would rather seem as though each tanmdtra

originates directly from the bhiltddi, and, simultaneously
each pair o f indriya-s directly and only from the vaikdrika.1
But according to the chapter on Involution2 each pair
of indriya-s dissolves together with the particular bhuta
in the corresponding tanmdtra, so that evidently for the
author o f our Samhita the whole process takes place
as in the account accepted as authentic by Tattvatraya.3
The Manu-s, then, by entering successively the five
Elements, are furnished, at each o f these steps, with one
sensory and one motory faculty, so that they are at last in
possession both o f the five e knowledge-senses and of
the five eaction-senses
The equipment o f the Manu-s
is herewith complete:4 provided with all the organs they
Avere in need of, they are standing, in perfect loneliness,
on the earth resembling the back of a tortoise (IV. 14).
The four couples now place themselves under the
protection o f Aniruddha5 and, by his command, begin
1 As is apparently the doctrine of the Samk.hya-kd.dka (cf,
Deussen, Allgemeine Geschichle dir Pkilosopkie, I. 3, p. 446). It
should, however, not be forgotten that the Karikd gives only the
barest outline of the system.
2 Adhyaya I V , see especially vv. 35ff.
3 pp. 56 ff. Another sUtra (ibid., p. 57) mentions the opinion
that from akdsa springs the Jabda-tanma/ra, from the latter vayu,
etc.; and still another view (an intermediate one) is found in Visnutilaka I I . 66 ff. where the iabda-tanmaira is said to produce akaia,
the latter (not the former) the sparia-lanmatra, this one viyu, etc.
4 The following, up to the end of this section, presupposes the
creation of the Egg and therefore belongs, properly speaking,
to the next section o f our Introduction. However, the exact
place to be assigned in our account of Secondary Creation to the
events related here being rather doubtful, it was not found advi
sable to interrupt the account of our Samhita.
8 atmany adhyaksam isinam aniruddham dadhati ( V I I . 48).

90

INTRODUCTION TO THE PAN CARATRA

to multiply: each o f the four pairs generates a hundred!

descendants, male and female, called manava-s, and
these, continuing the work of generation, become the
ancestors of numberless1 mdnavamanava-s.
There follows2 what corresponds to the Fall o f
Man in Jewish and Christian theology, to wit the jm nabhramJa or fall from knowledge of all the manavamanava-s (V II. 61). This mystic event is narrated
thus: Vidya3 becomes, with some portion o f herself,,
a cow; which means, continues our text, that she
obtains the condition of a cloud;4 then the milk called
varfa (rain, year) proceeding from the latter becomes
food; and the souls eat o f that milk o f nature 5 (material
milk; vaidyam payah) and their naturally unlimited
knowledge becojpnes limited (obscured, contracted).
Thus religion becomes necessary, and the Manu-s o f
old 55 start the &astra by following which the soul may
regain its natural purity.
1 aparimitafi (V II. 43).
2 In the account we are reproducing, though perhaps not:
in the order o f events. Visnutilaka teaches (II. 63) that at the
creation of the mahat tattva, there originates, together with the:
guna-s, the delusion of men ; while, on the other hand, delusion
seems to set in gradually towards the end of the first Y u ga: see:
below, next section.
3 Prakrti, in the highest sense, namely the bhuti-Sakti which,
according to Adhyaya IV . 3-5, is alternately a 1 cow in the form o f
a cloud and a non-cow called the Unmanifest .
4 That is, a brahmanda; cf. above, end of section 1 o f this:
part of our Introduction, p. 33,
5 Not, o f course, the four collective beings, but the historical;
ones; cf. X L I I I . 3.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PANCARATRA-S

5.

Se c o n d a r y o r

G ross 5 C r e a t io n 1

The appearance of the last tattva (Earth) marksthe end of the Cosmic Night and the beginning of the
Day.2 Not immediately, however, after the tattva-s:
have originated, can the Manu-s commence their activity
on earth, it being first necessary that the Cosmic Egg;
( brahmanda) and in it the god Brahman should come into
existence; while for the creation of the Egg the tattva-s
must first join to form a compoundjust as a wall
cannot be erected with clay, sand and water, as long as
these are still unmixed.3
O f this so-called Secondary or Gross Creation,4
referred to but occasionally in our Samhita in one or two
places,5 Padma Tantra gives the following short account
(I. 5. 19-21) :6
The principles [thus] created, existing separately
with their respective faculties, could not without
1 Origin and internal evolution of the brahmanda, that is the
Cosmic Egg in the avyakta and in the vyakta stages corresponding
respectively to the brahmanda kosa and ihe jivadeha kosa (fifth and
sixth kos'a-s) taught in Laksmi Tantra, V I . 23-5, unless, as seems
to be done in some texts (including perhaps the one in question)
the origin of the Egg is reckoned from that of the Lotus {mahat,
etc.), in which case the fourth or prakrti kosa would be merely the
avyakta from which the Lotus originates.
2 P. Prakasa S ., I. 2 end. Primary (preparatory) Creation
takes place during the eighth part of the Night.
3 Tattvatraya, p. 64.
4 As we may call it, though the use of these terms (sadvarika
mediate 3 srsfi, sthula srsfi) seems to be, as a rule, restricted to the
internal evolution of the Egg; see, for instance, Tattvatraya, p. 65,.
etc. and Indraratra, I. 17 ff.
5 X X X . 8 ff., X L I . 5-6.
e Cf. Laksmi Tantra, V . 74 f f ; Viivaksena S., loc. cit., p. 64-

92

INTRODUCTION TO THE PANCA R A TR A

coalescing into a mass (samhatim vina) create beings.

They, then, from mahat down to the gross Elements,
became massed together, under the influence of the
foremost purusa. Then [out o f them] an egg was
produced from the navel of Padmanabha, who is a
portion o f Myself, and [in the egg] thou, O lotus-born
one, becamest the womb of the world. It is thus that
at the beginning of creation this whole world came to
arise from prakrti
A fuller account1 says that from the navel of
Padmanabha there springs a golden egg containing the
tattva-s in a subtle condition; and, while the egg is
growing, a shining white lotus appears in it (sic), and
in (on) the lotus,2 finally, Aniruddha creates the four
faced creator (Brahman).3 Then Brahman4 makes
three attempts at creating the world, the third of
which only is fully successful, by generating 1. the
1 ibid., I, Adhyaya 3 ; cf, Visnutilaka, II . 40 ff.
2 In the pericarp, pays Prasna S., I I, 4L.
3 P . Prakdsa S. (III. 37-8) says that Brahman, hai sprung
* from the lotus-bud, the prakrtic one, being o f the nature of the
world (lokamaya), which [bud] itself has sprung from the navel of
Visnu sleeping in its [the eggs] interior, namely in the midst of
the water. According to Laksmi Tantra, V . 15 ff. the egg containing
the avyakta was created by Brahman and Sa-asvati (that is, Prad
yumna and his Sakti), after which Hnikes'a ( = Aniruddha) having
moistened avyakta had a good sleep in it together with Padma,
the result being the sacrificial or Time Lotus springing from
Hrsike^as navel and Brahman and Sarasvati (Hiranyagarbha
and his Sakti) springing from the Lotus.
1
Prafna S., I I . 21 ff, mentions some more events intervening
here: Brahman, desirous to know his origin, makes a futile attempt
at getting, through the navel, at the cause of the lotus, then medi
tates for a thousand years, and finally receives from the purusa
appearing to him the instrument of creation, namely the Veda-s.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PANCARATRA-S

93

four Youths (Sanaka, etc.) who refuse to have offspring;,

2. the androgyne Rudra (Siva) who by self-partition
creates the eleven principal and many minor Rudra-s;
and 3. the six Prajapati-s (Marici, etc.) from whom all the
remaining beings, movable J and estationary , descend.
The sources are at variance as to the number
and names o f the Prajapati-s, and between these and
Brahman some authorities insert a c Manu \ Mahdsanatkumdra-samhitd (Indraratra, V I. 26 ff.) describes as
follows the origin o f an intramundane tetrad (antarandasthita caturmUrti) corresponding to the four vyiiha-s:
the first o f the Prajapati-s, Daksa, had a mind-born
son, Acyuta (Vasudeva), whose mind-born son was
Samkarsana, called Rudra (Siva), whose mind-born son
was Pradyumna, whose mind-born son was Aniruddha.1
There are, as will be understood from the above,
more attempts than one at combining the very ancient
story about the Golden Egg giving birth to god Brahman
with the later one o f the lotus springing from the navel
o f Padmanabha and these again with the theory o f the
tattva-s; as there are also, o f course, more authorities
than one dispensing advantageously with either the
navel or the lotus or both in explaining the origin o f
the Cosmic Egg.2
1 According to this text there are three Siva-s, namely: (1)
the Vyiiha Samkarsana; (2) the son o f Brahman and father o f
the Rudra-s; (3) the grandson of Daksa; further three Brahman-s,
namely: (1) the Vyiiha Pradyumna; (2) the first of Gross Creation
and Lord of the Egg ; and (3) the great-grandson of Daksa.
2 O ur Samhita admits (V I I I. 2 ff.) that some derive creation
from the Egg, others from the Lotus.

'9 4

INTRODUCTION TO THE PAN CARATRA

The plurality o f brahmanda-s1. is emphasized in

several Samhita-s. O f such Eggs
says Visvaksena.samhita (loc. cit., p, 66), there are thousands o f thou
sands, or even myriads of them , and more. They are
invariably described as consisting o f fourteen spheres
(loka-s) surrounded by seven enclosures (avarana-s),2 and
they are said to arise simultaneously like bubbles o f
water.3
Owing, no doubt, to conflicting statements in the
Samhita-s themselves, the beginning o f individual life
within the Egg has become a problem to the ]expounders
-of the Pancaratra.4 The mediate creation (sadvarikd
srsti), that is the creation mediated by God Brahman,5
and the immediate creation (advankd srti) preceding it,
are held to be the same, by the scholiasts, as what is
commonly understood, in Indian philosophy, by indi
vidual creation ( vyasti-srsti) and collective creation
(samasti-srtfi) respectively. But according to Visvaksenasamhitd (loc. cit., pp. 126-9) the offspring o f the
Manu-s, namely the so-called Pure Group (suddha.varga), is the creation o f Pradyumna, while the Mixed
Group (misra-varga) o f souls (dominated by rajas or
tamas) is created by Aniruddha through god Brahman;
1 Referred to already in a Vedic text, namely Baskalamantraupanisad 9 : mama pratisfka bhuva andakosSh.
2 See for instance Padma Tantra, I, Adhyaya-s 10-12.
3 Tattvatraya, p. 66.
4 See Varavaramunis comm, on Tattvatraya, p. 118.
5 W h o, in evolving the contents of the Egg, is regarded as
* consisting of the totality of bound souls 5 (baddhatma-samastirilpa); Tattvatraya, p. 65 comm., and elsewhere.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PAN CARATRA-S

95

from which it seems to follow that the Pure Group,

in spite o f its being vyasti, is advarika. The contradiction
appears also in the present Samhita which says, in
Adhyaya 7, that the Manu-s, who like the devata-s, etc.
have emerged as individuals from the kutastha-purusa
(si. 58), have many lineages by which has been spread
this whole [mankind] 5 (s'l. 51) including those who,
owing to the deteriorating progress o f the Yuga-s,
have become addicted to selfish wishes (si. 53); but
then, in Adhyaya X V , confronts the descendants o f the
Manu-s (manu-santati-jdh, si. 7) with those who have
sprung from the mouth, etc. o f Brahman (brahmamukhady-udgatcifr, si. 20). A clue to the solution o f
the riddle is furnished by the version contained in
Padma Tantra (I. 1. 35 ff.) and Visnutilaka (I. 146 ff.),
though in some particulars it is not likely that it re
presents the original theory. It runs as follows: The
original religion (adya dharma, to wit the Pancaratra)
was first, in the Krta age, proclaimed by god Brahman
to the sages o f sharpened vows 51 who taught it to
their disciples with the result that, everybody following
the Pancaratra, people were liberated [or went to
heaven, Visnutilaka], so that hell became naught and
a great decrease o f creation took place (srsti-ksayo
mahan asit) . Brahman, consequently, felt uneasy, went
to the Lord, and, on the latters kind inquiry as to
how the world was progressing under his rule, replied:
x What shall I say, O Lord o f gods! All men, being
1 T he citraJikha$din-s appear to be meant.

96

INTRODUCTION TO THE PAN CARATRA

full o f faith and masters o f their senses, sacrifice as

prescribed in the Great Secret; and so they go to the:
place o f Visnu from which there is no return. There
is [now] no heaven and no hell, neither birth nor
death. 1 This, however, was against the plan of the
Lord, and so he started, with the help o f Brahman,,
Kapila and Siva five more systems (Yoga, Samkhyar
Bauddha, Jaina and Saiva) conflicting with each other
and the Pancaratra for the bewilderment of men
Now, the verse containing the phrase a great decrease
of creation took place is also in Visvaksena-samhita
(loc. cit., p. 129), which shows that that Samhita,.
although deriving the Pure Group from Pradyumna, and
the Mixed Group from Aniruddha and Brahman, must
have held a view similar to the above as regards the
mutual relation o f the two. Our present Samhita speaks
twice (VI. 13, V II. 47-8) about the Manu-s passing
from Pradyumnas care to that o f Aniruddha, and once
about their withdrawal into Aniruddha, in the period o f
pralaya (IV. 59 ff.). This suggests the idea that, while
both classes c f souls are introduced into the Egg by
Aniruddha (Padmanabha), the pure ones only are so
introduced directly, the impure ones, however, indirectly
and later, namely by being first transferred to Brahman.
For, it must be remembered that the great majority o f
unliberated souls left over from the preceding Kalpa and
now to be reborn enter of necessity this new period o f
their samara with a reminder of good and bad karman,
1 That is, no death followed by rebirth.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PANCARATRA-S

97

or only the latter, that is as impure beings. These,

evidently, must be re-introduced into earthly life by the
highest representative o f rajas, that is the god Brahman;
and they cannot appear on earth as long as the first
Yuga, in which sattva prevails, is not over. The small
minority, on the other hand, in whom sattva predomi
nates, must for this very reason, in order to terminate
their career, appear in the first Yuga without passing
through Brahman: the Lord, therefore, says Visvaksenasamhitd (loc. cit., p. 129), creates with the bit of good
karman (sukrta-lesena) they have left, and for which they
must still receive an earthly reward, the suddha-sarga.1
These pure beings o f the Krta age, then, correspond to
the Anagamin-s [and Sakrdagamin-s] o f Buddhism, that
is those almost perfect beings who return for one life
[or two lives] only, because they have very nearly
reached liberation in the preceding one. And so, if
it is said that at the end of the Krta Yuga the
descendants of the Manu-s began to deteriorate, this
can only refer to their bodily descendants among whom
the pure souls were more and more disappearing
(having reached liberation), while the gaps were being
filled by Brahman with the better specimens of the
mixed 5 ones, the process going on, in this way, in
a descending line, until in the Kali age even the most
depraved find their chance for reincarnation.
The four hundred manava-s of the Ahirbudhnya
Samhita have become eight hundred Visnu-s in
1
Pure Creation or Pure Group
the word sarga being
also a synonym o f varga used elsewhere in this connection.

98

INTRODUCTION TO THE PAN CA RA TRA

Mahasanatkumdra-samhitd (Indraratra, sixth Adhyaya)

which even enumerates the names o f them all, locating

them in eight ideal realms situated in the eight regions.1
Among those eight hundred Visnu-s, each o f whom is the
chief ( nayaka) of a thousand subjects (cf. the mdnavamanava-s o f our Samhita), there are the original three
hundred twice-born manava-s, while the group o f original
Sudra-s has been replaced by five mixed groups in such
a way as to eliminate altogether the male Sudra-s. The
chapter closes by mentioning that there are innumerabl e
Visnu-s in Kapil a Loka.2
6.

N a t u r e a n d D e s t in y o f t h e

Soul

When the Day o f the Lord has expired and the

Great Dissolution is finished,3 nothing remains but the
1 (1) Brahmana-s only live in the eastern realm called
Sivaroha; (2) children (descendants) o f Brahmana fathers and
Ksatriya mothers in the Rama world of the south-east; (3) Ksatriya-s
in the Narasimha world o f the south; (4) children o f Ksatriya
fathers and Vaisya mothers in the south-western region (name
missing); (5) Vaisya-s in Srldhara Loka o f the west; (6) children of
Brahmana fathers and Vaisya mothers in Vamana Loka o f the
north-west; (7) children of Brahmana fathers and Siidra mothers in
Hayasirsa Loka o f the north; and (8) children o f Ksatriya fathers
and Sudra mothers in Vasudeva Loka o f the north-east. The
names of the Visnu-s are partly very strange. For example, Jirnavranin, Soka, Visada, Lobha, Pancatman and Bahyatman are
names o f north-western Visnu-s; and Bhuta, Bhavya, Bhavisyat,
Deha, Dehavat and Sarirasasana are names from Hayasirsa Loka.
2 For Kapila Visnu , the teacher o f the Naga-s in Patala,
see Padma Tantra, I. 1. 23, and Visnutilaka, II. 170 ff. The inha
bitants o f the netherworlds (Atala, etc.) are said to be so happy
as to have no longing for heaven ( Visnutilaka, II. 170).
8
The following, abbreviated from P . Prakaia S ., I, first
Adhyaya, will be recognized as an elaboration of the story o f M arkandeya referred to above in connection with the twenty-seventh
avatara (described in Ah. S ., L V I. 28-9).

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PAN CARATRA-S

99

"Waters o f Infinity and, floating on them, on the leaf o f a

banyan tree (vala-patra), a babe whose name is 'the
V o id (swHja). The babe is Visnu, the sleepless one,
sleeping the sleep of Yoga.1 In His womb (kuksi)
are sleeping all the souls: in the upper part the liberated
ones (mukta); in the middle part those who [owing to
sattva prevailing in them] are fit for Liberation (muktiyo g y a ); then, near the navel,2 the ever-bound (nityabad'dha) , and, in the region o f the loins, those who
[on account o f the predominance, in them, of tamas]
are fit for Darkness (tamo-yogya) .3 The souls in this
condition are called nara-s.4.
The above account, though taken from a fairly
recent work,5 contains undoubtedly the original brthodox
view o f the Pancaratra as to the fate o f the souls during
the Great Night; and it is an important document chiefly
because it clearly shows that the liberation taught in the
Pancaratra is not, as might be understood from certain
passages, something like the gradual liberation (kramamukti) o f the Advaitin-s in which the soul finally, together
with the god Brahman, loses its individuality. The
Pancaratra says indeed, using the Advaitic term, that
1yoga-nidram upagato vinid.ro svapad isvarafr: P . PrakaSa S .,
I . 1. 40.
2 From which will spring the Lotus and the representative of
rajas, god Brahman: cf. above, section 5.
3 P . PrakaSa S ., I. 1. 11 ff. (corrupt); V . 10-11; etc.
4 ibid., . 14, cf. the explanation of the name Narayana in
.Manu-smrti, I. 10.
5
P .' PrakaSa S. mentions Sriranga and Venkatesa, further the
three classes o f Purana-s, and, as belonging to the sativic class,
the Bh&gavata (I. 12. 7, 4. 32).

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INTRODUCTION TO THE PAN CARATRA

the soul becomes one (eki-bhavati) with the Lord in

liberation and then once more in the Great Dissolution
but the meaning o f this is, in the former case, that the
soul joins the Lord1 in Vaikuntha, and, in the latter
case, that it becomes latent in Him when Vaikuntha
with everything else is temporarily withdrawn.2
It is this very view to which we are led by the Ahirbudhnya Samhita; for, if the soul is a part o f Laksmi,3 it
cannot, o f course, become one with the Lord 5 in any
higher sense than that o f the perfect embrace o f
the divine couple4 from which the two emerge again as
separate beings as soon as the time for creation has
come.
The difficulty, however, is that there are numer
ous passages in the Samhita-s where this view is
apparently set aside. For, although animate and
inanimate nature, soul and body, subject and object,5
are declared to be two aspects or parts o f the one
1 M ore exactly: His heavenly form, the Para Vasudeva.
2 The case o f Brahman is peculiar. H e ought to join the
liberated in Vaikuntha (the withdrawal of which, at Pralaya, is
later than that of the Egg). But we can find no reference to this.
The Samhita-s speak of the end of his life but evidently avoid
mentioning his death ! or liberation . Possibly this has some
thing to do with the difficulty, or impossibility, of deciding to
what extent he is a bound soul and to what extent an avatara of'
Visnu. T he withdrawal o f Vaikuntha is mentioned in P. Prakasa
S ., I. 1. 14: vaikunfhadi vihdram ca hitva. Note also the following
statement, ibid., v. 18: That which is called Dissolution by the
wise, is not really Dissolution.
3 O r a contraction of Laksmi, as the Goddess herself calls
it in Laksmi Tantra, V I . 36: pramata cetanafr prokto, mat-samkocajt
sa ucyate.
4 See below our resume o f Adhyaya I V .
Cetana cetya, dehin deha, bhoktr bhogya (V . 9 ff.).

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101

still the idea, obtaining rdnce the earliest

times in Indian philosophy, of a closer relationship of
the soul than o f matter with God is by no means
absent in our Samhita-s and quite conspicuous, naturally,
in those Samhita-s which operate either not at all or but
a little with Laksmi as a philosophical principle. And it
is this idea, in all probability, which is ultimately res
ponsible for the intrusion into the Pancaratra of certain
foreign elements such as those we will now point out.
I f creation means re-appearing, then there seems to
lie no room for the question o f a first beginning or
original sin. Still the question is asked and answered
in more than one text, for instance in the following way
in chapter 14 o f Ahirbudhnya Samhita.
In addition to the three well-known powers o f
creation, preservation and destruction, the Lord has two
more sakti-s called Nigraha (or Tirodhana) and Anugraha, by means of which he prepares and pre
determines the soul for bondage or liberation respec
tively. The entering o f the soul into the wheel o f
births, commonly accounted for by its own previous
acts, is here explained by the Lords obscuring its
divine nature through reducing its original omnipre
sence, omniscience and omnipotence, so as to make
it (1) atom ic, (2) little-knowing and (3) littleachieving . Vice versa, those three restrictions called
taints or fetters may again be cancelled through the
divine grace (anugraha).1
bkiiti-sakti,

1
For further particulars see our resum6 of the Adhyaya, below,
next chapter.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE PAN CARATRA

Now, whether the five sakti-s mentioned are the

Lords or Laksmis,1 the fact is undeniable, I believe,
that the soul is not here regarded as a mere portion o f
Laksmi2 but as a third principle distinct from both
Vasudeva and Matter (or Laksmi respectively)-just
as in those passages (XLV. 3-4, X X X V III. 13, etc.)
which speak o f avidya or mdya as veiling 5 the true
nature o f the jiva and the para (soul and G od). That
is to say: we have here nearly the standpoint described
in Visnutilaka in the words (II. 34-5): There is a
triad here: Brahman, jiva (soul) and jagat (world) 'T
Brahman is a mass (rasi) o f light, jagat a mass o f ele
ments ( bhuta), and jiva a mass o f knowledge.
Secondly, the conclusion seems to be inevitable that
the liberated soul is not only omniscient, as it is, indeed,
often described to be, but also omnipotent and even
omnipresent. As for its omnipotence, this word may
here have the restricted meaning in which it is elsewhere
used with regard to the liberated (who cannot interfere
with or participate in the governance o f the world); but
the question remains: how can the liberated soul be
omnipresent (vibhu), which is the less intelligible, as in
chapter 6 (v. 27) it has been described as o f the
size of a mote ( trasarem-pramana) ? The scholastic
1 They are, indeed, also described as the pafka krtyani o f the
Devi, for instance in I . 2 and X X I . 12 o f the Ahirbudhnya Samhita.
2 From the general standpoint of our Samhita we should
have to say that Visnu causes Laksmi to act with one part o f
herself (namely nigraha, etc.) upon another part (the soul), thus
bringing the latter into connection with a third part o f herself
(namely matter)! (which would reduce the cosmic process to
something like a physiological disturbance in the Goddess).

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103

view,1 namely that the liberated soul, though essentially

atomic (like the bound one), is omnipresent in that
its consciousness is ever omnipresent (sada vibhu)
the latter being related to the former as the light
spread in a room to the lamp (or flame) from which
it radiates is a plausible explanation o f the soul-mote
and its millions o f rays (XI. 27), but must be rejected in
the present case where omnipresence is expressly distin
guished from omniscience. As a matter o f fact, nothing
remains but to admit that we have here a Saiva tenet
in Vaisnava garb. For, the Saiva-s do teach that the
souls are naturally omnipresent ,2 that is: not hampered
by space, though limited, while in bondage, by niyati or
spatial restriction.3 The latter, as we know already,4 is
one o f the five (or, including mqya, six) limitations o f
the soul called kancuka-s, and the connection o f our
chapter (14) with these is the more evident as the two
other taints, to wit those o f little-knowing5 and
little-achieving5 are absolutely identical with the
kancuka-s called vidya and kala.6 The surprising solu
tion of the problem, then, is that in our passage the
word am does not mean atomic but * small, little
1 Tattvatraya, p. 35; Tat. D ip ., pp. 69 and 75.
2 vibhu, an-anu, vyipaka: Sarvadarsana Samgraha (Poona ed.)
p. 69 (11. 23, 13); Pratyabhijmhrdaya (A LS. 18), pp. 40, 49, 104.
3 Pratyabhijnahrdaya, loc. cit,, and elsewhere.
4 See above pp. 74, 75. The Pancaratra doctrine of the
mSyi kola was developed by the Saiva-s into the theory of the
kailcuka-s, after which the latter influenced the Pancaratra.
5 The five kancuka-s called kala, vidya, raga, kala and niyati are
said to result from the contraction 5 o f sarvakartrtva, sarvajiiatva,
piirnaiva, nityatva and vydpakatva respectively: Pratyabhijtthrdaya,
loc. cit.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE P A N C A R A T R A

in the sense o f spatially restricted and as the opposite

o f that which is, not so much omnipresent, as beyond
space.1
The relation between the jiva and the para (indi
vidual and highest soul) is, in several Samhita-s, des
cribed in a language so thoroughly Advaitic2 that an
influence from that quarter is, indeed, beyond question,
even admitting that several such passages may be mere
echoes o f those (seemingly or really) Advaitic passages
o f the Bhagavad-gita (such as X III. 27 ff.). However,
with one or two exceptions, the said borrowing
will always be found to be a merely formal one,
which is only to be expected, considering that the
general trend o f the Pancaratra is clearly non-Advaitic.
The most perplexing passages o f this sort are
perhaps to be found in Padma Tantra. In one o f them
(I. 4. 14-15) Brahman puts the straight question:.
What is the difference, O Highest Spirit, between
Thee and the liberated soul ? to which the Lord
answers no less directly: They [the liberated] become
1 Professor Rehmke of Greifswald, teaching (in his book D ie
Seele des Menschen) this ubiquitas of the soul
namely that 1 the
soul is nowhere in the strictest meaning o f the word admits that
it is logically possible from this standpoint (though not probable)
that one soul should be simultaneously connected with several
bodies which comes curiously near to the Pancaratra ideas
about liberated souls and Yogin-s (see above, section 2 ). Should
not also in the Samkhya, Mimamsa and Nyaya-Vaiiesika the
doctrine of the uibhutva of the soul originally mean this ubiquitas
and not omnipresence as it is always interpreted? For an
exhaustive treatment o f the concept in the Saiva sense, see Chatterji,
Kashmir Shaivism, p. 7 7 : Unrestricted access to
etc.
2 Particularly in the treatment of Y og a ; cf. below, in part
I I I , our resumi of chapter 31 of Ahirbudhnya Samhita.

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105

I ; there is no difference whatever. This seems to be

plain Advaita, but the answer goes o n : As I live
( viharami), just so live the liberated souls , which im
mediately brings back the idea of plurality, and so
renders it at least possible that the Lord is meant to say:
* They become like Me, except, o f course, with regard
to the governance o f the world. For, all Pancaratra
'Samhita-s recognize the existence o f the nitya-s or
* ever-free beings (Visvaksena, etc.)1 and cannot,
therefore, admit that a previously bound soul should
become more inseparably united with the Lord than
these are. In Visnutilaka, which is closely related to Padma
Tantra,2 and which also uses the phrases he will become
Brahman , is absorbed in the Highest Brahman ,
etc.,3 this union is declared to be one with the kaustubha
o f the Lord4 and is further referred to as follows: Just
as gold, in the midst o f fire, shines separately, as
though it were not in contact [with the fire], even so he
who is clinging to Brahman ( brahmani lagna) is seen to
exist in the form o f a gem (mani) ;5 He who has become
attached to the jewel o f gems (mani-ratna, the kaustubha)
is said to have attained identity [with the Lord]. e
1 See above pp. 64 ff. In Padma Tantra they are mentioned,
for instance in I. 2. 35 ff.
2 And even one o f its sources, to judge from the fact that
it is mentioned as no. 6 in the Samhita list o f Padma Tantra. The
mutual relation o f the two is, however, not quite clear.
3 I. 33, I. 114, etc.
4 II. 3 0 ; cf. above, pp. 60, 61.
6
Visnutilaka, II. 100. The soul in itself, that is in its natural
form, is often compared with a gem.
6 ibid., II. 5 4 : maniratne mlagnasya sayujyagatir ucyate.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE PAN CARATRA

In another passage o f Pddma Tantra (I. 6. 15 if.)

the great problem is stated with unusual precision:
Scripture emphasizes the oneness o f the highest Seir
and the one called ksetrajna (knower-of-the-field, the
soul); [but] the plurality o f this ksetrajna is proved by the
diversity o f bodies.5 Three well-known Advaitic images
are used to illustrate the relation o f the One and the
many: the pot in the water, the pot in the air and the
one figure reflected in many mirrors.1 Yet, none o f
these (as shown by the rest o f the chapter) is used in
the Advaitic sense: God as the Inner Ruler pervades
the soul, while He is, o f course, also outside it; and the
reflected images proceed from their original like the:
rays from the sun: Just as, by means o f gates o f various;
kinds, people go forth from a town, even so the soulsgo forth from Brahmanthis is called Creation; and
as, through those gates, the inhabitants o f that town
enter it again, just so [the souls] go [back] to that
Brahmanthis is called Withdrawal. 2 It may be
objected that the rays sent out and again withdrawn
by the sun3 have no separate existence in the sun itself,,
but this is not the common Indian, or, at any rater
not the Pancaratra view; and even the Upanisadic image
1 The first and second images occur in Maiireya^upanisad, II. 18
(see my edition of the M inor Upanisads, vol. I, p. 118); for an elabo
ration of the second see Gaudapadas MdndUkya Kdrikd, I I I . 3 ff. ^
the third is a transformation of the image found, in Brahmabinduupanisad 12 and other texts, of the one moon and its many reflec
tions in the tank.
2 Visnuiilaka, I I . 95 ff., being an elaboration (if not the original)
o f Pddma Tantra, I, 6. 43-4.
3 Pddma Tantra, I. 6. 24.

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107

o f the rivers entering the ocean1 means for the Pancaratrin only that in liberation the souls become practi
cally but not really one.2
The conclusion to be drawn from all this is: that,,
although the language o f the Advaita is occasionally met
with in the Pancaratra Samhita-s, the chief charac
teristic o f that philosophy, namely its illusionism (mqyivada), is altogether absent from them.

1 ibid. I. 6. 51-2, referring to Yoga ( = temporal liberation)2 That the famous Gita passage mamaivdmso, etc. ( X V . 7) isalso to be understood in this sense, can be gathered for instance,
from Tat. D ip ., p. 74, where the teaching of Yadavaprakasa,,
namely brahmdmJo jivah is rejected as erroneous.